IJCSB    LIBRARY 


F\;LLV 


PRESS  OF 

PEKRV  &  BARNES, 
PRINTERS  AND  PUBLISHERS, 

ATTLEBOROUGH,  MASS. 
1886. 


GOFF    MEMORIAL    HALL. 


This  pamphlet  is  a  contribution  to  Old  Colony  history. 
It  presents  in  a  more  complete  and  accurate  form  than 
was  possible  within  the  limits  of  a  newspaper  report,  the 
dedicatory  exercises  of  the  Goff  Memorial  Hall  in  Reho- 
both.  The  occasion  was  a  notable  one  in  many  particulars. 
It  dealt,  historically,  with  the  settlement  and  growth  of 
one  of  the  oldest  townships  in  the  country.  It  marked 
the  successful  issue  of  a  building  enterprise  of  no  little 
importance,  and  one  in  which  many  people  were  directly 
interested.  The  dedication  itself  brought  together  a  com- 
pany of  distinguished  speakers,  and  an  audience  that  in 
numbers  and  appreciation  commanded  their  best  efforts. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  manifold  subjects  of  discourse  and 
the  various  incidents  of  the  day  are  of  rare  value  and 
significance  to  every  American  townsman.  Especially 
interesting  will  the  record  of  these  pages  prove  to  the 
citizens  of  Attleborough,  Cumberland,  Seekonk,  Paw- 
tucket,  East  Providence  and  Swansea — municipalities 
originally  included  within  the  ancient  boundaries  of  Re- 
hoboth.  Hardly  less  acceptable  will  the  work  be  in  other 
towns  and  cities  of  the  Old  Colony,  or,  indeed, wherever  in 
this  wide  land  is  found  a  son  or  daughter  of  old  Rehoboth. 

We  have  endeavored  to  present  the  story  in  acceptable 
form,  incorporating,  beside  a  full  report  of  the  dedicatory 


4  INTRODUCTORY. 

proceedings  both  morning  and  afternoon,  a  history  of  the 
building  enterprise;  a  picture  and  description  of  the  Hall 
itself,  with  list  of  relics  in  the  Antiquarian  Room  and 
their  donors;  portraits  of  the  gentlemen  most  prominently 
interested  in  the  work;  and  such  other  illustrations  and 
sketches  as  might  properly  appear  in  such  a  publication. 


The  Building  Enterprise. 


Early  in  the  spring  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- 
three,  while  engaged  in  accumulating  material  and  facts 
for  his  ecclesiastical  sketch  of  Rehoboth  in  the  history 
of  Bristol  County,  Rev.  George  H.  Tilton  was  im- 
pressed by  the  large  number  of  ancient  and  odd  relics 
which  he  found  in  possession  of  the  residents  of  the  town. 
The  antiquity  and  rareness  of  some  of  the  documents, 
books,  implements,  &c.,  which  he  saw,  awakened  the  de- 
sire in  his  mind  that  these  be  collected  and  preserved  in 
some  suitable  place.  Accordingly  it  was  with  this  thought 
in  mind  that  on  the  second  day  of  January,  eighteen 
hundred  and  eighty-four,  while  examining  the  relics  in  the 
possession  of  George  N.  Goff,  Mr.  Tilton  said  to  Mrs. 
Goff,  "We  must  have  an  Antiquarian  Society  here." 

Thereupon  he  immediately  went  to  work  to  raise  sub- 
scriptions to  erect  a  building.  By  dint  of  hard  labor  and 
the  expenditure  of  much  time,  at  the  close  of  January  he 
had  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  pledged.  On  the 
thirty-first  of  January,  Geo.  H.  Tilton,  John  C.  Marvel 
and  George  N.  Goff,  went  to  Pawtucket  to  see  Darius 
Goff,  Esq.,  a  former  resident  of  Rehoboth,  and  find  out  if 
he  would  not  aid  them.  After  the  facts  were  presented  to 
him,  Mr.  Goff  pledged  an  amount  equal  to  that  already 
raised  and  told  them  if  they  raised  any  more  to  come  and 


6  HISTORIC  ItEHOBOTH. 

see  him  again.  The  aim  of  Mr.  Tilton  at  first  was  for  a 
building  simply  for  relics,  &c.,  but  this  soon  developed 
into  the  idea  of  a  building  which  would  contain  a  hall,  a 
school  room  and  a  library.  Encouraged  by  the  liberality 
and  promise  of  Mr.  Goff,  Mr.  Tilton  set  at  work  with  re- 
newed zeal  to  increase  the  amount  pledged.  With  the 
aid  of  others  who  had  already  subscribed,  he  brought  the 
sum  up  to  four  thousand  dollars  which  was  promptly  du- 
plicated and  more  than  duplicated  by  Mr.  Goff. 

On  the  evening  of  March  5,  1884,  the  stockholders 
having  been  duly  notified,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Anti- 
quarian Society  was  held  in  the  vestry  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church,  when  the  following  communication  from 
Mr.  Goff  was  presented  and  unanimously  accepted: 

"If  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  will  increase  their  sub- 
scriptions up  to  four  thousand  dollars,  I  will  raise  mine 
up  to  the  same  amount,  and  in  addition,  give  one  acre  of 
land  to  erect  the  building  thereon,  the  location  of  which 
shall  be  the  old  homestead  of  my  father,  and  a  further 
condition  that  five  gentlemen  shall  be  elected  as  trustees, 
one  for  five  years,  one  for  four  years,  one  for  three  years, 
one  for  two  years,  and  one  for  one  year,  who,  with  the 
president  and  secretary  of  the  society,  shall  erect  said 
building  and  have  the  whole  care  and  management  of  the 
property.  After  one  year,  one  trustee  shall  be  elected  an- 
nually; and  furthermore,  I  reserve  the  right  to  name  three 
of  the  five  trustees,  and  also  to  approve  the  plan  of  the 
building.  At  least  three  thousand  dollars  of  the  four 
thousand  subscribed  outside  of  mine,  shall  be  paid  into 
the  treasury  before  I  am  called  upon.  When  that  is  done 
I  shall  be  ready  to  pay  mine  in  full.  This  offer  will  hold 
good  for  sixty  days  from  date." 

At   this  meeting   the  following  officers    were   elected: 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTII.  1 

President,  Rev.  George  II.  Tilton;  Vice  Presidents,  Esek 
H.  Pierce 'and  Francis  A.  Bliss;  Secretary,  Wrn.  H.  Mar- 
vel, Corresponding  Secretary,  Rev.  G.  H.  Tilton;  Treas- 
urer, VVm.  W.  Blanding;  Trustees — for  five  years,  George 
N.  Goff;  four  years,  Esek  H.  Pierce;  three  years,  Paschal 
E.  Wilmarth;  two  years,  Charles  Perry;  one  year.  George 
H.  Morton.  By  the  constitution  of  the  society,the  President 
and  Secretary  are  made  trustees  ex-officio,thus  making  the 
whole  board  of  trustees  to  consist  of  seven  persons. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  Mr.  Tilton  sent  a  letter  to 
Hon.  Thomas  W.  Bicknell  acquainting  him  with  the  fact 
that  quite  a  sum  of  money  had  been  pledged,  and  that  it 
was  the  intention  to  have  a  school  and  library  in  the 
building,  and  that  any  aid  or  assistance  he  could 
render  them  would  be  duly  appreciated.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bicknell  were  both  very  much  interested  in  the  under- 
taking, and  sent  the  following  letter  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  the  Blanding  Library. 

BOSTON.  MASS.,  April  1,  1884. 

REV.  GEO.  H.  TILTOX,  President  Antiquarian  Society, 
DI-:  AU  SIP.: — 

Your  plans  with  reference  to  a  Memorial  Hall,  High  School  Rooms, 
Antiquarian  Hall,  etc.,  at  Rehoboth,  have  interested  Mrs.  Bicknell  and 
myself  very  much,  and  have  awakened  the  living  embers  of  the  sincere 
and  deep  attachment  we  have  for  old  Rehoboth  and  her  excellent  people, 
formed  under  circumstances  most  interesting  and  important  to  all  con- 
cerned. At  one  time,  while  we  were  teaching  the  high  school  at  Reho- 
both, very  considerable  interest  was  then  manifested  in  the  matter  of 
erecting  a  high  school  building  and  hall  at  the  village,  and  such  public- 
spirited  men  and  women  as  John  C.  Marvel,  Wm.  R.  Bullock,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Deacon  Brown,  William  Blanding,  Reuben  Bowen,  Danforth  Hor- 
ton,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ira  Carpenter,  Tamerlane  Horton,  Josephine  B.  Smith, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otis  Goff,  Xolson  Goff  and  others,  were  deeply  interested  in 
the  project,  which  ended  only  in  discusssion.  Nearly  thirty  years  have 
passed  since  then,  and  it  has  been  a  matter  of  concern  to  us,  what  could 
be  done  to  preserve  the  better  standard  of  intelligence  and  virtue,  tradi- 
tional and  historic,  in  this  grand  old  town. 


8  HIST  OE  1C  RE  HO  BOTH. 

You  may  be  assured  that  your  work  as  a  pastor  and  teacher  of  the  old 
church  of  the  Rogersons,  Thompsons  and  Grovenors,  has  been  a  source 
of  delight  to  us, who,  while  absent  in  person,  still  have  a  lively  interest  in 
all  that  concerns  the  welfare  of  the  parish  and  the  people.  Still  more 
have  we  been  delighted  with  the  zeal  and  public  spirit  you  have  manifest- 
ed in  the  preservation  of  the  ancient  landmarks  of  Rehoboth,and  particu- 
larly in  the  work  of  faith  and  love  which  is  about  to  b«  crowned  with 
the  plaudits  of  success,  in  the  proposed  erection  of  the  Goff  Memorial, 
which,  while  a  monument  to  the  noble  generosity  of  the  principal  donor, 
is  also  the  sure  evidence  of  your  courageous  faith  and  indomitable  perse- 
verance, in  collecting  the  generous  gifts  of  self-sacrificing  donors,  to  an 
edifice  which  shall  be  a  means  of  social,  educational  and  religious  benefit 
to  all  of  the  people. 

Let  us  congratulate  you,  then,  in  the  near  prospect  of  the  consumma- 
tion of  what  is  consecrated  by  prayer  and  labor  for  the  good  of  mail  and 
the  glory  of  God;  and  let  us  bear  testimony  to  our  grateful  regard  for 
those  who  have  given  generously,  lovingly  and  sacredly  to  perpetuate  t  he 
names  of  worthy  ones  who  helped  to  plant  a  town,  which  should  in  its 
history  illustrate  the  principles  of  the  Puritan  stock,  and  which  has  sent 
forth  so  many  men  and  women  to  make  the  world  the  better.  It  has  oc- 
curred to  Mrs.  Bicknell  and  myself,  if  agreeable  to  you  and  the  other 
trustees,  that  we  would  gladly  aid  you  in  some  way  in  supplementing  the 
good  work  you  have  undertaken,  by  laying  the  corner-stone  of  a  public 
library,  which  shall  be  free  to  all  the  people  of  the  town,  under  such  regu- 
lations as  the  trustees  may  see  fit  to  make. 

We  believe  that  a  good  library  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  means  of  edu- 
cation; that  communion  with  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  and 
women  of  the  world,  through  their  writings,  is  a  sure  method  of  elevating 
society,  mentally  and  spiritually;  and  that  the  increasing  value  and  power 
of  pure  literature  in  books  and  magazines  are  as  necessary  to  the  higher 
life  of  men,  as  are  the  streams  in  the  valleys  and  the  fresh  winds  of  the 
hills  and  the  ocean  to  physical  life. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  encourage  the  formation  of  a  library  to  be  kept 
in  the  Goff  Memorial,  we  will  donate  five  hundred  dollars  to  the  trustees 
of  the  Rehoboth  Antiquarian  Society,  to  be  expended  by  them  in  the  se- 
lection of  good  books,  a  large  portion  of  which,  let  us  suggest,  shall  be 
chosen  with  special  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  boys  and  girls,  the 
young  people  of  the  town.  We  sincerely  hope  that  others  may  contrib- 
ute more  or  less  freely  to  this  nucleus  of  a  library,  and  that  the  annual 
supply  of  books  shall  keep  it  fresh  and  interesting  to  all  readers,  so  that 
the  gifts  may  be  a  constantly  increasing  blessing  to  all  who  may  enjoy 
their  benefits. 

Wo  shall  be  glad  to  have  the  library  become  so  valuable  that  all  the 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  9 

people  of  the  town  may  seek  its  benefits  and  the  inspiration  which  may 
come  from  it.  We  would  have  it  free  as  air  and  water  to  all.  We  hope 
that  many  a  boy  and  girl,  possibly  it  may  be  with  a  few  books  or  encourage- 
ments at  home,  will  find  help,  cheer  and  hope  on  the  shelves  of  the 
library,  and  that  the  character  of  the  future  men  and  women  of  the  town 
may  be  stronger,  manlier  and  more  truly  Christian  for  its  existence. 

We  have  but  one  request  to  make  in  connection  with  our  humble  gift, 
which  we  leave  for  your  consideration  and  decision.  The  name  of 
Blanding  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respectable  of  this  ancient  town. 
William  Blanding  was  a  contributor  to  the  expenses  incurred  in  carrying 
on  the  war  with  King  Phillip  of  Pokanoket,  and  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years  the  name  of  the  family  and  the  town  have  been  associated. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  and  that  the  name  may  be  kept  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  the  future  dwellers  of  Kehoboth,  yet  more  especially  for  the 
loving  affection  we  have  for  the  character  and  memory  of  our  beloved 
parents,  Christopher  and  Chloe  Blanding,  whose  dust  sleeps  with  that  of 
the  long  line  of  their  kindred  in  the  old  church  burial  ground  on  the  hill 
west  of  Rehoboth  village,  we  most  respectfully  suggest  that  the  permanent 
name  of  the  library  shall  be  The  Blanding  Public  Library  of  Rehoboth, 


With  great  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  ability  of  the  trustees  in  ad- 
ministering all  the  valuable  trusts  committed  to  them,  in  connection  with 
this  beautiful  memorial  building  and  its  various  interesting  departments, 
We  are,  very  sincerely, 

THOMAS  W.  BICKXELL, 

AMELIA  DAVIE  BLAXDIXG  BICKXELL. 


On  the  spot  selected  by  Mr.  Goff  as  the  site  of  the  new 
structure,  the  old  "Goff  Inn."  the  birthplace  and  home  of 
his  ancestors,  was  still  standing.  The  land  upon  which  it 
stood  had  been  in  the  Goff  family  by  direct  descent  ever 
since  1714.  The  excellent  picture  of  the  old  inn,  given 
on  another  page,  shows  that  a  series  of  additions  had  been 
made  to  the  original  house.  Situated  on  the  road  leading 
from  Taunton  and  various  points  in  the  Old  Colony  to 
Providence  and  Newport,  the  Goff  Inn  was  one  of  the 
noted  hostelries  of  Colonial  days.  As  we  view  it  in  coun- 
terfeit, we  can  almost  hear  the  coachman's  horn  and  see 
the  four  horses  swing  the  stage  up  to  the  door  with  a 


10  HISTORIC  EEHOBOTH. 

burst  of  speed  reserved  for  that  special  occasion.  As  we 
look  upon  its  time-honored  walls  it  seems  almost  too  great 
a  sacrifice  that  they  have  been  torn  down  even  to  make 
room  for  so  handsome  a  building  as  the  one  which  succeeds 
it. 

The  old  Inn  was  removed  in  April,  and  in  May  ground 
was  broken  for  the  new  structure.  Owing  to  obstacles, 
however,  the  work  was  delayed  until  fall.  It  was  then 
renewed,  and  the  cellar  was  built  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  George  N.  Goff.  On  September  8th,  1884,  the  con- 
tract was  signed  by  the  contractors,  Lewis  T.  Hoar's 
Sons  of  Warren,  R.  L,  and  by  the  committee  on  contract, 
consisting  of  George  N.  Goff,  Charles  Perry  and  Esek  II. 
Pierce.  The  plastering  was  let  to  H.  Bryant  &  Brother 
of  Fall  River. 


THE    OLD   GOFF    INN. 


From  whatever  point  the  visitor  approaches  Rehoboth 
Village,  the  first  object  that  attracts  the  eye  is  the  tower 
of  the  Memorial  Hall.  He  is  at  once  struck  by  its  grace- 
ful proportions,  and  a  nearer  approach  confirms  the  im- 
pression of  its  beauty.  We  cannot  better  describe  it  than 
by  referring  the  reader  to  our  frontispiece,  where  an 
excellent  view  of  the  structure  can  be  had.  It  is  situated 
on  a  gentle  eminence,  facing  south,  surrounded  by  ample 
grounds.  Near  by,  the  Palmer  river,  now  untrammeled 
by  mill  wheels,  flows  cheerily  to  the  sea.  A  fine  elm  in 
front  adds  to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  spot.  In  outward 
aspect  and  thorough  workmanship,  it  is  all  and  more 
than  the  picture  represents  it.  Its  main  dimensions, 
exclusive  of  projections,  are  38  1-2  by  60  1-2  feet. 

The  first  floor  comprises  three  rooms,  viz: — a  school 
room,  24  1-2  by  38  1-2  feet,  leading  out  of  which  is  a  reci- 
tation room  12  by  15  feet,  which  forms  part  of  the  north- 
ern projection  of  the  building.  The  school  is  on  the  west 
end  and  is  lighted  from  the  north  and  south.  An  antiqua- 
rian room  which  is  19  by  30  feet  and  is  lighted  from  the 
north  and  east,  and  a  library  room,  19  by  30  feet,  which  is 
lighted  from  the  east  and  south,  occupy  the  east  side. 
The  second  floor  consists  of  the  hall,  38  1-2  by  60  feet, 
and  is  amply  lighted  from  the  east,  south  and  west.  The 


12  HISTORIC  EEUOBOTII. 

basement  is  well-finished,  is  deep,  and  contains  one  of 
Barstow's  best  furnaces.  In  the  tower  in  front,  Mr.  Goff 
has  caused  to  be  placed  a  bronze  tablet  bearing  the  fol- 
lowing,— "Goff  Memorial,  1884,"  which,  with  the  labor  ex- 
pended upon  it,  cost  not  far  from  five  hundred  dollars. 
The  building  can  be  said  to  have  been  finished  in  the 
autumn  of  '85,  although  some  slight  additions  have  been 
made  by  Mr.  Goff  at  intervals  since. 

The  Blanding  Library,  comprising  about  six  hundred 
and  twenty -five  volumes,the  greater  part  of  which  were  con- 
tributed by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  W.  Bicknell,  was  opened  to 
the  public  for  the  first  time,  February  22,  1886,  and  has 
been  open  ever  since,  two  evenings  of  each  week,  Mon- 
day and  Friday.  The  school  room  was  open  for  a  public 
school  in  the  fall  of  1885,  and  was  so  used  for  two  terms. 
In  April  a  private  school  was  opened,  which  is  supported 
by  various  individuals.  The  total  number  who  have  con- 
tributed toward  the  building  fund  is  about  one  hundred 
and  sixty,  with  amounts  varying  from  ten  to  two  hundred 
dollars.  The  total  cost  of  the  building  is  nearly  $14,000, 
of  which  Mr.  Goff  furnished  about  $10,000. 

The  initiative  object  of  the  building,  as  a  repository  of 
ancient  relics,  is  recognized  as  paramount  in  the  completed 
structure.  Its  Antiquarian  Room  on  the  northeast 
corner  is  large  and  well  lighted,  and  in  every  way  attrac- 
tive. Much  time  and  labor  have  been  expended  on  this 
department,  especially  by  the  President,  Rev.  G.  H.  Til- 
ton,  and  the  Secretary,  Wm.  K.  Marvel,  both  of  whom 
have  been  actively  engaged  from  the  first.  The  names 
also  of  Wm.  H.  Luther,  Esq.,  Librarian  and  Custodian, 
and  J.  C.  Marvel,  Esq.,  deserve  honorable  mention  for 
their  efforts  in  this  direction.  The  collection,  in  point  of 
intere.it,  is  second  to  none  in  the  State,  though  there  are 


HISTORIC  EEHOBOTU.  13 

some  more  extensive.  Still  the  donations,  considering 
that  they  were  drawn  in  a  single  year  almost  wholly  from 
the  garrets  of  a  single  town,are  quite  as  remarkable  for  their 
variety  as  for  their  rarity.  In  order  to  render  "Honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due,"  as  well  as  to  furnish  a  catalogue  for 
those  visiting  the  room,  we  give  below  a  list  of  the  articles 
with  names  of  the  donors. 


Antiquarian  Deflations. 


Defence  of  Christianity,  two  volumes,  printed 

in  1728,  Wm.  A. 

Six  copies  Ladies'  Magazine, 
Fifteen  copies  town  and  school  reports, 
Eleven  copies  Missionary  Herald, 
Three  copies  Home  Missionary, 
Nine  copies  Christian  Inquirer, 
Five  copies  "The  Quaker," 
Twenty-seven  pamphlets, 
One  volume  sermons,  printed  in   1708, 
One  old  book,  printed  in   1704, 
Two  pairs  old  spectacles, 
Samples   of    cloth   woven   at  Orleans  Mill   at 

different  times  since  1828,  preserved  by 

Dea.  Benjamin  Peck,  " 

One  Hatchel, 
Two  ancient  shoe  buckles, 
One  sewing  machine,   made  in   Rehoboth   by 

Wm.  A.  King, 
Encyclopedia    of    Arts    and    Sciences,     four 

volumes,  " 

Twenty-eight  old  books,  " 

One  ninepence,  dated  1777, 
One  five-dollar  note  on  Farmers  Bank,  dated 

1808, 
*An  ancient  Scotch  sword,  used  in  the  French 

and  Indian  wars  by  a  Mr.  Davidson,     " 


King. 


*It  is  related  of  Mr.  Davidson,  that  in  a  battle  his  adversary  cried  for 
quarter.  "Halves  Is  all  I  can  give,"  Davidson  replied,  at  the  same  time 
cutting  his  antagonist  down; 


HISTORIC  EEIJOBOTH.  15 

One  banner,  carried  by  the    Rehoboth    Cold 

Water  Army  in  1840,  "  " 

One  hose  pipe  that  belonged  to  the  first  and 

last  fire  engine  used  in  Rehoboth,         "  " 

One  musket   and    cartridge   box,    owned    by 

Elisha  A.  King  in  1812,  "  " 

One  pillion,  100  years  old,  "  " 

One  Indian  arrow  head,  Francis  V.  Bliss. 

One  Indian  stone  hatchet,  "  " 

Ten  old  books,  Nancy  M.  Smith. 

One  new  model  spinning  wheel,  made  by  Elder 

Childs  Luther, 

One  bag,  "  " 

One  smoking  case  used  by  Stephen  Moulton 

in  1826,  "  " 

One  old  dress,  "  " 

Two  sleighs  for  looms,  "  " 

Linen    cap   and    dressing    gown,     125    years 

old,  Ida  F.  Smith. 

Eleven  old  books,  Deborah  A.  Moulton. 

One  stone  arrow  head,  Benjamin  Horton. 

One  Indian  pestle,  "  " 

One  linen  shirt,  used  by  Abel  Medberry,   100 

years  old,  "  " 

One  pair  sheep  shears,  "  " 

One  busk,  "  " 

Nine  forks,  "  " 

Four  knives, 
One  spoon, 
One  porringer, 
Shells, 

One  cheese  basket  and  hoop, 
One  powder  horn, 
One  pestle  and  mortar, 
One  bonnet  block, 
One  chair, 
Three  brackets, 
One  picture  of  Henrv  Clay, 
One  picture  of  the  Centennial, 
Bark  of  the  California  red  wood  tree, 


Ifi  HISTORIC  EEIIOEOTU. 

One  silk  wedding  dress  worn  by  the  donor's 

wife,  Benjamin  Horton. 

One  spoon  mould,  Henry  C.  Goff. 

Twelve  Almanacs  from  1767  to  1778,  Thomas    Hill. 

Copy  of  an  act  passed  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  R.  I.,  in  1776,  regulating  the  price 
of  provisions, 

Thirty-five  Old  Farmers  Almanacs,  Alfred  B.  Goff. 

Eighteen  town  reports, 

Confederate  money, 

One  Columbian  family  Bible,  Gustavus  B.  Peck. 

One  Indian  hatchet,   "  Wm.  H.  Bowen. 

One  candle  mould,  Henry  T.  Horton. 

One  hatchel, 

One  pair  bellows,  " 

Fifty-one  Old  Farmers  Almanacs,  " 

Four  town  reports,  " 

One  foot  stove, 

Tin  oven,  " 

Wooden  skimmer,  "  " 

Tin  baker, 

*Patent  certificate  issued  by  James  Madison 
to  Dexter  Wheeler  of  Rehoboth,  in 
1811, 

Will  of  Jeremiah  Wheeler,  1796, 

One  stone  app^,  " 

One  military  plume, 

One  hand  reel,  Abigail  W.  Moulton. 

Hat, 

Plate, 

One  Bureau, 

Bennet,  Sword  used  by  James  B.  Moulton,      " 

Pewter  platter, 

Swifts, 

Two  wine  glasses,  " 

Eight  old  books, 


*The  machinery  for  the  old  Swansea  factory  was  made  by  Dexter  Wheeler 
in  the  shop  that  stands  opposite  the  residence  ot  Tamerlane  W.  Horton. 
Dexter  Wheeler  removed  to  Fall  River,  and  built  the  first  mill  there. 


IIISTOPJC  XEIIOBOTII.  17 

One  silk  banner  formerly  owned  by  the  Reho- 

both  Total  Abstinence  Society,  E.  A.  Brown. 

One  state  bank  bill,  George  N.  Goff. 

Confederate  $10  bill,  Mrs.  George  N.  Goff. 

One  handkerchief,  over  100  yrs.  old,  "  " 

Free  Masons  apron,  worn  by  Russell  Potter  in 

1824, 

Twenty-one  pieces  of  crockery,  (loaned)  "  " 

One  picture  of  John  Wesley,  Alice  Goff. 

Defence  of  Robt.  Emmet,  Albert  C.  Goff. 

One  brass  candle  stick,  sniffers  and  tray,      Electa  A.  Read. 
Pair  bellows,  David  Briggs. 

Sword  from  sword-fish,  George  H.  Horton. 

Two  candle  moulds  used  at   sea   by    Captain 

Stephen  Martin,  Huldah  Nichols. 

One  flint  lock  musket  used  by  Capt.  Stephen 

Martin  in  the  Dorr  Rebellion,    Stephen  M.  Nichols. 
One  pair  wooden  balances,  Rachel  Hicks. 

One  quill  wheel,  "  " 

One  flax  wheel,  "  " 

One  warming  pan,  "  " 

Two  pair  scales,  Horatio  N.  Moulton. 

One  knapsack,  "  " 

One  candle  stick,  "  " 

One  wood  bit-stock,  "  " 

One  sword,  "  " 

One  spit,  "  " 

Rough  notes  in  rhyme,  Whitman  Chase. 

One  walrus  tusk,  Thomas  C.  Grant 

One  decanter,  "  " 

One  saucer  over  200  yrs.  old,  Lucy  Drown. 

Two  sermons  by  Rev.  Otis  Thompson,  "  " 

Twelve  pamphlets,  Joanna  E.  Freeman 

Two  papers,  "  " 

One  book,  "  " 

Catalogue  of  Antioch  college,  Rev.  Geo  Hp  Tilton. 

One  book,  Augusta  E.  Newton. 

One  sermon,  (Thompson)  Lucy  B.  Sweet. 

Esquimaux  glasses,  used  to  protect  the  eyes 

from  the  sun,  Wm.  H.  Marvel. 


1 8  JUS  TOR  1C  REIIOBO  Til. 

Lead  ore  from  Galena,  111.,  Wm.  H.  Marvel. 

One  Powder  horn,  "  " 

Roster  of  Anawan  Cadets,  "  " 

Articles    of    agreement   of    Anawan    Cadets, 

organized  1860,  "  " 

One  cradle,  Myranda  J.  Brown. 

One  hand  reel,  "  " 

One  Indian  tomahawk,  David  H.  Briggs. 

One  old  knife,  " 

Painting  of  Leonard  Bliss,  Jr., 

Author  of  History  of  Rehoboth,    Caroline  M.  Carpenter. 
History  of  Rehoboth, 

One  old  bible,  Mrs.  L.  Carpenter. 

One    pair    handcuffs    and    one    slave     whip, 

brought  from  South  Carolina,        A.  W.  Carpenter. 
One  sermon,  (Thompson's)  T.  W.  Horton. 

One  tin  lantern,  "  " 

One  shovel  handle,  made  in  Rehoboth  80  years 

ago,  "  " 

One  Indian  spear  head,  Albert  E.  Kenny. 

Two  old  pictures,  Avis  Hicks. 

Town  reports  and  Farmers'  Almanacs,  "  " 

Three  old  books,  " 

One  old  hat,  Wm.  VV.  Blanding. 

One  pair  shears,  "  " 

One   tobacco   box  and   pipe,    used    by    Wm. 

Blanding  in   1782,  "  " 

One  boot-jack,  made  in  1792,  "  " 

Cartridge  box,  "  " 

One  valise,  "  " 

Crockery  from  the  Fiji  Islands,  "  " 

Cup  and  saucer,  (loaned)  "  " 

One  pewter  tea-pot,  " 

One  spider,  Col.  Lindall  Bowen. 

Two  regimental   flags   of   the  ist    Reg.,    2nd 

Brig.,  3rd  Div.,  Mass.  Militia  "  " 

One  Adjutant's  record  book  of  the  ist  Reg., 

2nd  Brig.  3rd  Div.,  Mass.  Militia,         "  " 

One  plate,  150  years  old,  Ruth  A.  Waterman. 


HISTORIC  REIIOBOTII.  19 

One  Masonic  apron,  worn  by  Joseph  Bowen  in 

1810,  Rosella  B.  Lee. 
One   certificate  of  membership  from  Eastern 
Star  Lodge,   No.    i,   of    Rehoboth,    to 
Joseph  Bowen,  given   October   16,   A. 
D.  1804, 

Map  of  Rehoboth,  Mrs.  George  Kent. 

Fire  shovel,  tongs  and  andirons,  David  Taylor. 

Bayonet  sheath,  on  distaff,  Larkin  Fenton. 

Straw  guage,  " 

Pair  of  shears,  " . 

Hoe  and  cow  bell,  " 

Horse  cutter,  " 

Straw  guage,  " 

Swingling  board,  " 

Two  fourpence,  "• 

Half  pennies,  "               " 

Half  cent,  "               " 

Cap,  Annie  P.  Fenton. 

Reel,  formerly  Mrs.  Stephen  Goff's,             Emma  Fenton. 

Pitcher,  Elizabeth  M.  Wheaton. 

Almanac,  "               " 

Bank  bill,  made  in   1776,  "               " 

Confederate  Money,  "               " 

Hoe,  Thomas  G.  Potter. 

Two  arrow  heads,  "               " 

Opium  pipe,  G.  C.  Brown. 

Chinese  fan,  "               " 

Piece  of  brain  coral,  T.  W.  Carpenter. 

Flax  brake,  Delight  C.  Reed. 

Swingle,  "               " 
Saddle  bags,  formerly  owned  by  Christopher 

Carpenter,  Cynthia  Goff. 

Military  cap,  formerly  worn  by    Major    Otis 

Goff, 

Shaker  bonnet  block,  D.  C.  Reed. 

Old  hatchet,  Bayliss  Goff. 

Indian  stone  pestle,  B.  G.  Goff. 

Spinning  wheel,  Joseph  S.  Pierce. 

Two  wool  hand  cards,  Lindley  Horton. 


20  HISTORIC  EEUOBOTII. 

Clock,  Esek  H.  Pierce. 

Lantern, 

Two  Hatchels, 

Horse-pistol,  "  " 

Candle  stick, 

Indenture,  1769,  "  " 

Family  record,  1751,  of  Elkanah  Eddy,  "  " 

Old  book,  Military  Discipline,  1733,  "  " 

Almanac,  1786, 

Herald  of  Gospel  Liberty,  the  first  religious 
paper  printed  in  the  United  States,  " 

Silver  coin,  1767,  and  20  other  coins,  "  " 

Deed,  dated  1694, 

Two  Cent  bill, 

Continental  Money,  "  " 

Postal  script, 

Silver  Dollar, 

Will  of  John  Brown,  Sr.,  1750,  in  rhyme,        "  " 

Papers  of  John  Brown,  Jr., 

Paper,  Universal  Yankee  Nation,  "  •' 

Old  knife, 

Quaker  wedding  bonnet,  worn  by  Mrs.  Bushee 

of  Swansea,  125  years  ago,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Pierce. 

Wood  busk,  made  in   1764,  "  " 

Pitcher,  100  years  old,  Julia  A.  Pierce. 

Bible,  formerly  owned  by  Hon.  Stephen  Bul- 
lock, of  Rehoboth,  Gideon  P.  Mason. 

Three  Cranes,  " 

Gun  barrel,  found  among  the  burnt  ruins  of 
the  first  house  built  in  Duxbury,  Mass., 
by  Miles  Standish,  one  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  Asaph  L.  Bliss. 

Musket,  captured  from  the  British  during  the 

Revolutionary  War,  Sylvanus  L.  Peck. 

Pair  knee  buckles,  Mrs.  Thos.  W.  Carpenter. 

History  of  Worcester  County,  Rodolphus  Luther. 

Book  case  and  desk,  Jeremiah  Taylor,  D.D. 

Sixty-five  old  books,  "  " 

Deed,  on  parchment,  1692,  Charles  W.  Goff. 

Snow  shoe,  150  years  old,  Albert  C.  Mason. 


HISTORIC  KEHOBOTH.  21 

Surcingle,  Hiram  Martin. 

Bread  trough  and  bread  pail,  owned  and  used 
by  Martha  Martin,  wife  of  Col.  Chris- 
topher Blanding,  of  Rehoboth,  who  died 
in  1856,  on  her  95th  birthday, 

Lucy  Blanding  Pearse. 

Plume,  worn  by  T.  W.  Carpenter,  T.  W.  Carpenter. 

Lead  window  sash  and  four  old  almanacs,        A.  T.  Read. 

Ancient  hat  box,  Joseph  H.  Pierce. 

Report  of  Old  Colony  Historical  Society,  1886, 

S.  H.  Emory. 

Picture  of  the  old   Powder  House,  Attleboro, 

1768,  Darius  Goff. 

List  of  soldiers  in  Lieut.  Brown's  Company,  in 
Col.  Carpenter's  Regiment,  during  the 
Revolution,  Joseph  Brown. 

Receipt  given  by  soldiers,   May  22d,  1781,  for 

payment  of  wages,  "  " 

Receipt  from  Daniel  Perrin  to  Capt.  John  Per- 
ry, July  12,  1779,  "  " 

Pair  of  slippers,  150  years  old,  Amanda  Wheaton. 

Handkerchief, 

Looking-glass,  which  has  been  in  the  possess- 
ion of  the  ancestors  of  Cyrus  W.  Bliss, 
1 50  years,  Angeline  Monroe. 

Old  skimmer,  formerly  owned  by    the    Abel 

family  of  East  Providence,  J.  J.  Chaffee. 

Eight  old  almanacs,  "  " 

Two  old  razors,  Rodolphus  Luther. 

Bill,  1806,  deed,  1752, 

First  warrant  issued  from  the  Secretary  of 
State,  to  the  Selectmen  of  Rehoboth,  to 
assess  a  State  tax,  Wm.  H.  Bryant. 

Deed  from  Richard  Hart  to  Philip  Wheeler, 
1736, 

The  Charter  granted  by  Charles  II,  to  the 
Governor  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island, 
in  1704,  Thomas  R.  Fenner. 


22  HISTORIC  EEIIOBOTIL 

Fac-Simile  of  the  Boston  News  Letter,  the 
first  paper  printed  in  North  America, 
No.  i,  April  1 7th,  1704,  Thomas  R.  Fenner. 

A  narrative  of  the  rise  and  progress,  and  issue 
of  the  late  lawsuits,  relative  to  property 
held  and  devoted  to  pious  uses,  in  the 
first  precinct,  in  Rehoboth,  1795,  J.  J.  Chaff ee. 

Secretary's  book,  and  Constitution  book  of 
Anawan  Lodge,  No.  274,  I.  O.  G.  T., 

Lucy  B.  Nash. 

Book,  1724,  and  pepper-box,  Mrs.  Tim  Temple. 

Indian  pestle,  and  two  stones,  Charles  A.  Briggs. 

Warming  pan  and  saucer,  Mrs.  John  Newell. 

Two  old  books,  Laura  Bett. 

Oration  of  Henry  Wheaton,  Esq.,  John  C.  Marvel. 

Minutes  of  the  Taunton  Baptist  Association, 
containing  Rev.  J.  J.  Thatcher's  ad- 
dress, "  " 

Journals   of   each    Provincial    Congress   of 

Massachusetts,  "  " 

Brown's  Estimate,  printed  1758, 

Welle's  Geography,  3  volumes,  printed  1728, 

Old  book,  printed  1717, 

Fourteen  old  books, 

Six  town  reports,  two  pamphlets, 

Ledger,  day  book,  cash  book,  time  book,  sketch 
book,  pattern  book,  used  by  the  Reho- 
both Union  Cotton  Mfg.  Co.,  in  1810,  " 

Eight  old  letters  from  R.  U.  C.  M.  Co., 

Letter  written  by  Wm.  Marvel,  2d,  " 

Order  written  by  Rev.  Otis  Thompson,  in 
1811, 

Receipt  written  by  Dexter  Wheeler,  " 

Note  written  by  Edward  Mason,  Agt.,  " 

Three  old  letters,  " 

Secretary's  report  of  the  meeting  of  the  Reho- 
both Union  Library,  June  ye  2d,  1800,  " 

Record  of  doings  of  Methodist  Conference,  in 
Mansfield,  August  22,  1810,  " 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  23 

Constitution  of  the  Rehoboth  Village  Tem- 
perance Society,  February,  1834,  John  C.  Marvel. 

Secretary's  book  of  Rehoboth  Institute,  or- 
ganized November  19,  1846,  "  " 

Deed  given  by  Benj.  Buffington,  1782,  "  " 

Letter  from  Owen  Fowler,  member  of  Con- 
gress from  this  district  in  1850,  "  " 

Grammar,  and  Present  State  of  the  Kingdoms 

of  the  World,  1788,  "  " 

Gazetteer  of  Conn,  and  Rhode  Island,  "  " 

Report  on  the  fishes,  reptiles  and  birds  of 

Massachusetts,  1839,  "  " 

Cobbett's  American  Political  Register,  Vol. 
XXX, 

An  account  of  Louisiana,  "  " 

Trial  of  Thomas  O.  Selfridge,  "  " 

Speech  of  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  1832,  "  " 

Report  of  the  Geology  of  the  Public  Lands  of 

Maine  and  Massachusetts,  "  " 

Review  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Andros'  essay  on 
the  doctrine  of  Divine  Efficiency  of 
Rev.  Otis  Thompson,  "  " 

History  of  Jemima  Wilkinson,  "  '• 

The  Paradise  of  Doctors,  "  " 

Trial  of  Ephraim  K.  Avery,  "  " 

A  Golden  Sermon,  by  Rev.  Elias  Smith, 

A  statement  of  facts  relative  to  the  six  princi- 
pal Baptist  churches  in  Cranston,  R.I.,  " 

Address  on  the  present  condition  of  the  Abo- 
riginal Inhabitants  of  North  America,  " 

Voyage  of  discovery  to  Corea  and  Loo-Choo 
Islands, 

Compendium  of  the  Minutes  of  the  Warren 
Baptist  Association  from  176710  1825,  " 

Christian  Palladium,  1834. 

Christian  Observatory,  1848, 

A  discourse  of  Abner  Jones  by  Warren  Hath- 
away, " 

Manual  of  Congregational  church  of  Rehoboth, 
1858, 


24  HISTORIC  REHOBOTH. 

Minutes  of  the  Taunton    Baptist   Association, 

1837,  John  C.  Marvel. 

Agreement  between  Rememberancc  Simmons, 
schoolmaster,  and  Jonathan  Bufflngton 
and  Samuel  Slade,  committee  in  1753,  ' 

Bond  for  collection  of  taxes  for  the  town  of 
Swansea,  given  by  Benjamin  Buffington 
and  Isaac  Chace,  1729, 

Indenture  of  Edward  Lord  to  Jonathan  Buf- 
fington, 1744, 

Deed  from  Edmund  Batter  to  Thomas  Buf- 
fington, 1715, 

Receipt  for  U.  S.  Tax,  1814, 

Deed  from  Jonathan  Buffington  to  Joseph 
Buffington,  1744, 

Order  to  yoke  and  ring  Kogs,  1752, 

Inventory  of  the  estate  of  Jonathan  Buffington 
of  Swansea,  1762 

Inventory  of  the  estate  of  Benjamin  Buffington 
of  Swansea,  1732, 

Wooden  plate  and  pewter  plate,  Miss  Eliza  Bliss 

Old  book  and  bonnet, 

Old  Teapot,  Mrs.  Caroline  A.  Cummings. 

Mustard  cup,  Mrs.  H.  N.  Wheeler. 

Winchester  Record,  3  vols.          Rev.  Leander  Thompson. 

Centennial  official  catalogue,  1876,  Wm.  H.  Marvel. 

Visitors'  guide  to  Centennial, 

Proclamation  for  Fast  Day  by  John  A.  An- 
drews, 1863, 

One  copy  Taunton  Whig,  1840, 

Letter  from  Marshal  P.  Wilder, 

Letter  from  J.C.Greenough,  President  of  Mass. 
Agricultural  College, 

Letter  from  Jonathan  Brown  of  the  Governor's 
Council, 

Letter  from  Robert  T.  Davis,  M.  C.  from  First 
Massachusetts  district, 

Letter  from  Robert  Howard,  Senator,  Second 
Massachusetts  district, 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  25 

Letter  from  Judge  George  M.  Carpenter  of 

Rhode  Island,  Wm.  H.  Marvel. 

Letter  from  Lieut-Gov.  Oliver  Ames, 

Magazine,  "The  Englsh  Pulpit  of  To-day," 

A  vindication  concerning  dietetic  abstinence,  "  " 

The  Manufucturing  Jeweler,  edited  by  Walter 

B.  Frost,  formerly  of  Rehoboth,  "  " 

Four  copies  of  Pawtucket  Chronicle,  printed  in 
1830,  edited  by  Samuel  A.  Fowler,  son 
of  Dr.  Fowler  of  Rehoboth, 

Specimen  of  silk,  made  in  Rehoboth,  Wm.  A  King. 

Tea  pot,  formerly  belonging  to  Shubeal  Goff, 

son  of  Elder  Enoch  Goff,  Caroline  E.  Cummins. 

Mustard  cup,  Mrs.  H.  N.  Wheeler. 

Spray  of  cotton  plant  from  Georgia,     Mrs.  S.  A.  Stearns. 

Section  of  Castor  bean  tree,  pods  of  the  horse 
bean,  a  lemon,  piece  of  sugar  cane,  spe- 
cimens of  Spanish  moss,  pine  needles, 
cabbage  palm,  a  cane  from  orange  tree, 
all  from  Orange  Co.,  Florida, 

Book,  Eliza  Bliss. 

A  pewter  and  a  wooden  plate,  "  " 

Indian  stone  mortar  Mrs.  G.  W.  Trafton. 

Of  all  the  antique  and  curious  implements  in  the  hall, 
none  are  more  interesting  than  those  used  in  spinning. 
Our  illustration  on  the  next  page  will  repay  examination, 
as  it  performs  a  three-fold  office.  It  gives  a  specimen 
of  the  relics  preserved  in  the  Antiquarian  Room;  and 
as  they  are  grouped  in  the  south-west  corner  of 
the  hall  on  the  upper  floor,  gives  an  idea  of  the  interior 
finishing  of  this  apartment;  lastly  it  shows  the  implements 
employed  in  making  linen  from  flax  and  yarn  from  wool. 
On  the  left  is  the  flax  as  it  is  grown  and  cured;  next 
conies  the  "break"  with  a  handful  of  flax  between  its 
ponderous  jaws;  the  upright  board  is  the  "swingling  boafd," 
'with  the  "swingling  knife"  leaning  against  it,  and  the  flax 
hanging  submissively  over  the  top;  next  we  see  the  beaten 


26  HISTORIC  REIIOBOTH. 

flax  on  the  box  which  supports  the  '"hatchel,"  through 
whose  comb-like  rows  of  teeth  the  flax  is  drawn  to  rid  it 
of  all  its  "shives";  then  it  goes  to  the  "distaff"  on  the 
"little  wheel"  and  is  spun  into  linen  thread. 

The  three  implements  on  the  right  illustrate  the  spin- 
ning of  wool.  The  wool  is  first  taken  between  the  "cards" 
lying  on  the  floor,  just  under  the  "big  wheel,"  with  a  roll 
of  wool  hanging  over  them;  when  carded  into  these  rolls 
the  wool  goes  to  the  "big  wheel,"  where  it  is  spun,  and 
wound  off  as  yarn  on  the  "reel"  at  the  extreme  right. 


AN  ANTIQUARIAN  COKNEK. 

April  23rd,  1886,  was  a  notable  day  in  the  history  of 
the  Antiquarian  society,  both  from  the  nature  of  the  exhi- 
bition given  in  its  behalf,  and  the  substantial  addition 
made  to  its  treasury.  Mr.  Abiah  Bliss,  aged  86  years, 
with  a  corps  of  able  assistants,  whose  combined  ages 
were  464,  revived  for  the  benefit  of  younger  genera- 
tions the  "lost  arts"  of  spinning  flax  and  wool  by  hand. 
Capt.  Geo.  W.  Bliss  manned  the  "flax  break,"  and  in  spite 
of  his  77  years,  yeilded  the  ponderous  implement  with 


EEHOBOTIl.  27 

deafening  and  crushing  effect;  Mr.  Baylies  Goff,  erect  as  a 
boy,  though  nearly  87  years  old,  handled  the  "swingling 
knife"  with  dazzling  swiftness  and  sent  the  "shives"  flying 
in  all  directions;  Mrs.  Hannah  Darling  sat  by  the  "hatche!" 
and  by  drawing  the  flax  through  its  parallel  rows  of  comb- 
like  teeth,  straightened  the  fibres  for  the  "distaff";  Mrs. 
Abby  Carpenter,  also  more  than  an  octogenarian,  spun 
the  flax  from  the  "distaff"  upon  the  "little  wheel,"  and 
during  the  evening  produced  quite  a  skein  of  linen  thread. 
This  is  a  very  difficult  process,  and  Mrs.  Carpenter  showed 
wonderful  skill,  at  her  age,  in  doing  the  work  so  well. 

The  wool  industry,  or  spinning  of  yarn  was  illustrated 
by  Mrs.  Eliza  Goff  and  Mr.  Leonard  Peterson.  Mr.  Peter- 
son took  the  "cards"  which  in  the  picture  lie  on  the  floor  in 
front  of  the  "big  wheel,"  and  taking  the  wool  carded  it  into 
rolls,  and  when  they  were  rolled  fine  and  close  enough 
passed  them  to  Mrs.  Goff,  who  spun  it  into  yarn  on  the 
"big  wheel"  and  wound  it  off  on  the  "reel."  This,  too, 
requires  great  skill,  and  was  deftly  done.  During  the 
spinning,  Mr.  Abiah  Bliss  explained  the  various  steps  in 
handling  both  flax  and  wool,  and  passed  samples  among 
the  audience,  who  kept  them  as  souvenirs.  When  the 
curtain  dropped  there  was  a  round  of  applause  that  would 
not  cease  until  the  venerable  craftsmen  and  craftswomen 
came  out  and  bowed  their  acknowledgements.  Mr.  Abiah 
Bliss  sang  a  song  by  way  of  response,  and  the  pleasant 
evening  closed. 


Biegraphical  Sketches. 


It  seems  quite  appropriate  that  the  active  factors  in  the 
building  of  the  hall  should  be  recognized  in  this  pamphlet. 
Three  men  have  been  selected  as  representing  three 
different  classes  of  agents  —  those  who  contributed  means; 
those  who  contributed  enterprise  and  effort;  and  those 
who  helped  to  fittingly  dedicate  the  completed  struc- 
ture. As  chief  among  contributors  stands  Mr.  Darius 
Goff,  for  whom  the  memorial  was  named;  as  first  among 
the  workers  in  the  enterprise  is  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Tilton,  its 
originator  and  leading  spirit;  as  most  prominent  of  those 
who  officiated  at  the  dedication,  is  Hon.  Thomas  W. 
Bicknell,  LL.D.,  of  Boston,  orator  of  the  day.  Portraits 
and  biographical  sketches  of  these  gentlemen  are  included 
in  these  pages,  those  of  Mr.  Goff  and  Mr.  Bicknell  being 
immediately  subjoined,  while  that  of  Mr.  Tilton  appears 
in  connection  with  the  presentation  of  his  picture  to  the 
Society,  which  occurred  during  the  afternoon  exercises. 

DARIUS  GOFF,  ESQ. 

Darius  Goff,  son  of  Lieut.  Richard  and  Mehitable  (Bul- 
lock) Goff,  was  born  in  Rehoboth,  Mass.,  May  10,  1809. 
His  father  was  a  manufacturer,  and  in  1790  built  a  fulling 
and  cloth  dressing  mill,  and  furnished  it  with  the  best  of 
machinery.  His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Stephen 


HIS  TOR  1C  RE  HOBO  Til.  29 

Bullock.  His  grandfather,  Joseph  Goff,  lived  in  Barring- 
ton,  and  his  great  grandfather  was  Richard  Goff.  The 
children  of  Lieutenant  Richard  and  Mehitabel  Goff  were, 
Richard,  Otis,  Horatio,  Patience,  Nelson,  Darius  and 
Mary  B.  Darius  Goff  was  educated  at  home  and  in  the 
common  schools.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  his  father's 
factory  in  Rehoboth,  and  spent  four  or  five  years  in  the 
coloring  department  of  the  mill,  and  in  trade  in  a  variety 
store.  He  was  subsequently  employed  for  a  short  time  in 
the  woolen  mill  of  John  &  Jesse  Eddy  of  Fall  River, 
Mass.,  and  for  six  years  served  as  clerk  in  the  grocery 
business,  first  with  William  Woodward,  and  afterward  with 
Tillinghast  Almy,  in  Providence.  Returning  to  Rehoboth, 
he  and  his  brother,  Nelson,  purchased  the  Union  Cotton 
Mill  and  commenced,  in  1835,  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
batting,  which  business  they  prosecuted  with  success. 
Soon  afterward,  they  began  to  make  glazed  wadding,  sizing 
it  by  hand,  a  sheet  at  a  time,  on  a  table  covered  with  sheet 
lead,  then  hanging  it  on  racks  with  a  common  lath  to  dry. 
Finally  they  conceived  the  idea  of  making  it  in  a  continu- 
ous sheet,  and  after  experimenting  for  about  two  years 
accomplished  the  object,  placing  the  cards  over  an  endless 
apron,  conveying  the  web  of  cotton  from  each  doffer  of  the 
cards  to  the  apron,  which  run  at  the  same  speed  with  the 
surface  of  the  doffer,  the  thickness  of  the  wadding  being 
determined  by  the  number  of  cards  operated.  This  plan 
of  making  wadding  is  now  universal.  Its  success  called 
for  a  larger  mill,  which  not  being  attainable  then,  experi- 
ments were  made  to  color  the  continuous  sheets  as  they 
came  from  the  cards,  and  were,  after  two  years  or  more, 
successful  in  the  object.  A  new  mill  was  built,  about 
two  hundred  feet  long,  and  the  old  machinery  was  started 
in  it  about  1842,  but  in  about  a  month  it  was  destroyed  by 


30  HISTORIC  RE  HOBO  Til. 

fire,  at  a  loss  of  over  six  thousand  dollars.  E.  A.  Brown 
of  Rehoboth  soon  afterward  bought  out  the  interest  of 
Nelson  Goff,  and  a  new  firm  was  formed,  Goff  &  Brown, 
who  changed  the  business  to  the  manufacture  of  carpet 
warps  and  twine,  and  this  was  continued  under  the  special 
direction  of  Mr.  Brown,  till  1868,  when  the  firm  was  dis- 
solved. 

As  early  as  1836,  Mr.  Goff  had  given  special 
attention  to  the  business  of  buying  and  selling  cotton 
waste  as  paper  stock.  This  material  hitherto  had  literally 
been  thrown  away.  In  this  new  business,  in  1846,  he 
formed  a  copartnership  with  George  Lawton  of  Waltham, 
Mass.,  and  commenced  dealing  in  waste  paper  stock,  in 
Boston,  on  Gray's  wharf.  Mr.  Goff  came  to  Pawtucket 
and  in  1847  erected  a  wadding  mill  near  the  railroad  sta- 
tion. It  was  run  by  a  steam  engine,  the  cotton  being 
carded  in  the  white  state,  carried  through  all  the  processes 
of  coloring  and  sizing,  and  brought  out  in  endless  sheets. 
The  mill  was  burned  in  1851,  but  was  at  once  rebuilt  on  a 
larger  scale.  In  1859  tne  partnership  of  Goff  &  Lawton 
was  dissolved,  Mr.  Lawton  taking  the  Boston  business  in 
paper  stock,  and  Mr.  Goff  taking  the  wadding  mill  in 
Pawtucket.  Mr.  Goff  then  united  with  John  D.  Cranston 
and  Stephen  Brownell  of  Providence,  under  the  firm-name 
of  Goff,  Cranston  &  Brownell,  and  carried  on  a  general 
business  in  paper  stock  and  wadding.  The  mill  was 
burned  in  1871  and  rebuilt  in  1872,  in  larger  proportions 
and  with  more  perfect  machinery.  It  is  driven  by  a 
Corliss  engine  of  300  horse-power.  The  mill  and  neces- 
sary adjoining  buildings  occupy  an  area  of  about  four 
acres.  There  are  about  two  hundred  cards  run,  turning 
out  an  average  of  about  seventy-five  miles  of  yard-wide 
wadding  and  batting  per  day,  being  twice  the  size  of  any 


HISTORIC  fiEHOBOTIL  31 

wadding  manufactory  in  the  world.  In  1878,  the  two 
companies — Goff,  Cranston  &  Brownell  and  Union  Wad- 
ding Co. — the  latter  of  which  though  previously  formed, 
was  chartered  in  1875,  with  a  capital  of  $300,000,  were 
merged  into  one  under  the  name  of  The  Union  Wadding 
Co.  The  capital  stock  has  since  been  increased  to 
$750,000,  with  Darius  Goff,  president;  Lyman  B.  Goff, 
treasurer,  and  Henry  A.  Stearns,  superintendent  The 
company  runs  machinery  of  its  own  invention  and  con- 
truction,  which  in  a  large  measure  accounts  for  the  re- 
markable success  of  the  business. 

In  1861  Mr.Goff  with  his  son, Darius  L.,and  W.F.and  F. 
C.  Sayles  formed  the  American  Worsted  Co.,  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  worsted  braids — then  a  new  industry  in  this 
country.  This  company  was  dissolved  in  1864,  and  a  new 
firm  for  the  same  business  was  immediately  organized,  the 
name  being  D.  Goff  &  Son,  Mr.  GofPs  son,  Darius  L., 
being  the  junior  member.  Lyman  B.,  the  younger  son, 
was  admitted  in  1876.  During  the  years  1867  and  1868, 
by  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Goff,  the  business  received  protective 
legislation  from  Congress,  and  at  once  became  an  immense 
and  flourishing  branch  of  industry,  the  product,  alpaca 
braids,  being  well  known  in  the  market  as  "Goff's  Braids." 
In  1884  the  firm  was  incorporated,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$600,000;  Darius  Goff,  president,  and  D.  L.  Goff,  treas- 
urer. The  firm  is  the  leading  one  of  the  kind  in  America. 

Mr.Goff  served  in  the  Town  Council  of  Pawtucket,  and 
in  1871  was  elected  State  Senator.  He  was  a  director  in 
the  Franklin  Savings  Bank  from  its  incorporation  to  a  re- 
cent date;  has  been  director  of  the  Pawtucket  Gas  Co., 
and  the  Pawtucket  Hair  Cloth  Co.,  from  their  origin,  and 
is  also  one  of  the  directors  of  the  First  National  Bank. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  a  devoted  and  influential 


32  HISTORIC  REHOBOTH. 

member  of  the  Pawtucket  Congregational  Church,  and 
has  largely  contributed  to  its  support,  being  one  of  four  to 
enlarge  the  old  church.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Building  Committee  in  the  erection  of  the  new  edifice, 
and  in  the  liquidation  of  the  debt  subscribed  ten  thousand 
dollars.  Politically  he  has  been  a  Whig  and  a  Republican 
and  was  always  a  strong  opponent  of  slavery.  During  the 
Rebellion  his  voice,  hand  and  purse  were  given  to  the 
support  of  the  patriot  army  and  the  Union.  To  every 
good  cause  he  has  freely  and  earnestly  given  his  aid  and 
his  influence.  Notwithstanding  his  extensive  business  re- 
lations he  has  found  time  to  indulge  his  taste  and  in- 
crease his  knowledge  by  travelling  over  nearly  all  parts  of 
our  country.  His  vigor  of  body  and  mind,  sterling  qual- 
ities of  heart  and  executive  abilities,  well  entitle  him  to  be 
counted  as  a  representative  man  of  New  England.  He 
married  first,  in  May,  1839,  Sarah  Lee,  whose  only  child 
died;  second,  Harriet  Lee.  These  were  sisters,  and 
daughters  of  Israel  Lee  of  Dighto'n,  Mass.  The  children 
by  the  second  marriage  are  Darius  L.,  Lyman  B.  and 
Sarah  C.  Mr.  Goff's  sons,  as  already  stated,  are  now 
associated  with  him  in  business.  His  daughter,  Sarah  C., 
married  Thomas  Sedgwick  Steele  of  Hartford,  Conn. 

HON.  T.  W.  BICKNELL,  LL.D. 

Hon.  Thomas.  W.  Bicknell,  orator  of  the  day  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Memorial  Hall  hereafter  described, 
descended  from  that  Zachary  Bicknell  who,  in  the  spring 
of  1635,  set  sail  from  Gravesend,  Kent,  England,  for 
America  and  settled  in  Weymouth,  the  first  home  of  the 
founders  of  Rehoboth.  His  grandson  of  the  same  name 
came  to  Swansea,  now  Barrington,  about  1705,  and  there 
in  1834,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born. 


HISTORIC  EEHOBOTn.  33 

He  received  his  early  education  in  district  and  private 
schools  in  Barrington  until  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he 
left  home  to  attend  school  at  Thetford  Academy,  Vt.,  liv- 
ing in  the  family  and  working  the  farm  of  Enoch  Slade, 
Esq.  While  at  the  Academy,  under  the  very  efficient 
principalship  and  instruction  of  Hiram  Orcutt,  he  decict-d 
to  take  the  studies  preparatory  for  college,  and  in  1853 
graduated  from  the  Academy,  delivering  the  Greek  oration 
on  Grecian  Mythology.  He  taught  his  first  school  at  See- 
konk,  Mass.,  1853-4;  was  admitted  by  examination  to  Dart- 
mouth and  Amherst  Colleges,  and  entered  the  Freshman 
class  of  Amherst,  September,  1853.  At  the  close  of 
Freshman  year  he  was  elected  by  his  class  as  a  prize-de- 
bater. He  left  college  in  1854,  to  recruit  in  health  and 
funds.  He  taught  school  as  principal  of  the  public 
school  and  high  school,  Rehoboth,  1854-5.  Went  West  in 
1855,  and  taught  as  principal  of  the  academy  at  Elgin,  111. 
In  the  summer  of  1856,  he  joined  a  Chicago  emigration 
company  to  settle  in  Kansas;  was  taken  prisoner  by 
border  ruffians  on  Missouri  River,  and  sent  back  to  St. 
Louis  under  escort  of  Colonel  Bufford's  South  Carolina 
and  Virginia,  sharpshooters.  He  came  East  and  conducted 
the  Rehoboth  High  School  from  September,  1856,  to 
December,  i857,and  entered  the  Sophomore  class  of  Brown 
University  February,  1858,  and  graduated  with  degree  of 
A.  M.,  1860. 

He  was  appointed  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  of 
Rhode  Island  by  Governor  Padelford,  June  1869,  and 
continued  in  office  till  January  i,  1875.  While  Commis- 
sioner, he  secured  a  State  Board  of  Education,  of  which 
he  was  Secretary;  the  re-establishment  of  The  Rhode 
Island  Scholmaster,  of  which  he  was  editor  for  nearly  ten 
years;  the  re-establishment  of  the  State  Normal  School; 


34  HISTORIC  ItEHOBOTif. 

secured  town  school  superintendents  in  each  town  in  the 
State;  dedicated  over  fifty  new  school-houses;  advanced 
the  school  year  from  27  to  35  weeks  average,  throughout 
the  State;  and  school  appropriations  were  nearly  trebled 
during  his  administration.  He  aided  in  the  revival  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Instruction,  and  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  New  England  Journal  of  Education,  and 
as  joint  proprietor  and  publisher  with  C.  C.  Chatfield, 
edited  the  Journal,  which  united  the  several  monthly 
magazines  of  New  England  in  one  paper,  issued  weekly 
at  Boston,  Mass;  established  and  edited  the  Primary 
Teacher,  a  monthly  magazine,  in  1876.  In  1880,  he  estab- 
lished and  became  conductor  of  Education,  a  bi-monthly 
Review  on  the  Science,  the  Art,  the  Philosophy,  and  the 
History  of  Education;  at  the  same  time  continuing  the 
editorship  of  the  Journal,  and  Presidency  of  the  New 
England  Publishing  Company,  formed  in  1875.  His 
present  business  is  that  of  editing  and  publishing  educa- 
tional papers,  books  and  magazines. 

The  events  and  honorable  positions  of  his  active  life 
are  many,  some  of  the  more  important  of  which  are  here 
given.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Rhode  Island  Insti- 
tute of  Instruction,  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction, 
and  the  National  Educational  Association.  He  aided  in 
the  formation  of  the  Boston  Congregational  Sunday-school 
Superineendent's  Union,  and  was  elected  its  president 
May,  1880.  Was  a  delegate  to  and  attended  the  Raikes 
Sunday-school  Centenary  at  London,  1880.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Massachusetts  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  of 
the  Rhode  Island  Historic  Society,  of  the  American  As- 
sociation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  of  the  American 
Social  Science  Association,  and  an  honorary  member  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society.  The  Bicknell  Family 


HISTORIC  EEHOBOTH.  35 

Association  was  formed  in  Boston  in  December,  1879,  and 
Mr.  Bicknell  was  elected  its  president.  In  1872,  he  was 
elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  and 
received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
Amherst  College  in  1880,  and  LL.D.,  Drury  College,  1882. 
Mr.  Bicknell  was  President  of  the  R.  I.  Sunday-school 
Union  from  1872  to  1875;  was  a  delegate  from  the  Rhode 
Island  Conference  to  form  the  National  Congregational 
Council,  and  was  a  delegate  from  the  Suffolk  South 
Conference  to  the  Triennial  Council,  held  in  Detroit, 
Mich.,  October,  1877;  was  Commissioner  from  R.  I.  to  the 
Universal  Exposition  at  Vienna,  Austria,  in  1873,  and  a 
member  of  the  Postal  Congress  held  in  New  York,  1878, 
in  forming  the  Postal  Code,  adopted  by  Congress  in  1879. 
Also,  he  was  president  of  the  following  societies:  Massa- 
chusetts Congregational  Sunday-school  Union,  1881-1885; 
New  England  Sunday-school  Association,  1885-1886. 
International  Sunday-school  Union,  1884-1887;  Chautau- 
qua  Teachers'  Reading  Union,  1886. 

Mr.  Bicknell  has  travelled  extensively  through  the 
United  States,  and  has  made  three  European  trips.  In 
1873,  he  travelled  through  Scotland,  England,  France, 
Holland,  Belgiun,,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Greece,  Turkey, 
Austria,  and  Bavaria.  In  1879,  he  revisited  England, 
and  in  1880,  with  his  wife,  visited  Scotland,  England, 
France,  Belgium,  and  Holland.  He  cast  his  first  Presiden- 
tial vote  for  John  C.  Fremont,  in  1856,  and  still  holds  fast 
to  the  Republican  party.  Ke  was  married  in  1860,  to 
Amelia  Davie  Blanding,  daughter  of  Christopher  and 
Chloe  Blanding  of  Reboboth.  The  Blanding  Library  of 
the  new  Memorial  Building  is  named  iji  hpnpr  pf  her 
contributions  to  i{. 


Dedication. 


If  every  man  and  woman  interested  in  the  Dedication 
of  the  Memorial  Hall  in  Rehoboth  had  had  a  voice  in 
making  the  weather  which  greeted  them  Monday  morning, 
May  10,  they  would  have  been  unanimous  in  saying  they 
had  just  what  they  wanted.  A  clear,  cool  atmosphere,  no 
dust  on  the  roads,  and  not  the  slightest  indication  of  the 
moisture  which  came  along  in  the  afternoon  by  way  of 
variety.  At  an  early  hour  all  was  bustle  and  expectation. 
The  arriving  carriages  brought  guests  from  Providence, 
Pawtucket,  East  Providence,  Seekonk,  Swansea,  Attle- 
boro,  Mansfield,  Taunton,  Fall  River,  New  Bedford  —  in 
fact  there  was  hardly  a  town  or  city  in  the  Old  Colony 
which  was  not  represented.  At  least  five  hundred  people 
were  in  and  around  the  building. 

When  half  past  ten  o'clock,  the  hour  for  beginning, 
arrived,  every  seat  in  the  hall  and  all  standing  room  in 
aisles  and  entry  was  occupied.  Among  the  distinguished 
guests  on  the  platform  were  Hon.  Thos.  W.  Bicknell, 
LL.  D.,  of  Boston;  Rev.  Jeremiah  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of 
Providence ;  President  E.  G.  Robinson,  of  Brown  Univer- 
sity ;  Messrs.  Henry  B.  Metcalf,  Olney  Arnold,  Darius 
Goff,  D.  L.  Goff,  and  L.  B.  Goff,  of  Pawtucket;  Hon. 
Amos  Perry,  Rev.  F.  Thompson  and  Henry  T.  Beckwith, 
of  Providence ;  Hon.  Frank  S.  Stevens,  of  Swansea  ;  ex- 
Gov.  Littlefield,. of  Rhode  Island;  Rev.  E,  G.  Porter,  of 


HISTORIC  EEUOBOTU.  37 

Lexington  ;    Rev.    Geo.  H.   Tilton  and  Mr.   William   W. 
Blanding  of  Rehoboth,  and  others. 

The  exercises  began  with  singing  "  Master  Great  whose 
Power  Almighty,"  by  the  Harmonic  Male  Quartette  of 
Attleboro,  and  was  followed  by  the  invocation.  The  Pres- 
ident of  the  Antiquarian  Society,  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Tilton, 
then  gave  the  following 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

MEMBERS  AND  FRIENDS  OF  THE  REHOBOTH  ANTIQUARIAN 

SOCIETY  : 

We  are  glad  to  welcome  you,  as  you  have  come  hither 
from  so  many  different  places  on  this  auspicious  day. 
The  dedication  of  this  goodly  building  marks  an  important 
era  in  the  history  of  this  ancient  town. 

The  Rehoboth  Antiquarian  Society  was  organized  on 
the  5th  of  March,  1884.  The  trustees  entered  at  once 
upon  the  work  of  erecting  a  suitable  building  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Society.  This  building  was  completed  in  the 
autumn  of  1885.  A  charter  had  been  granted  by  the 
General  Court  in  March  of  the  same  year. 

The  object  of  the  society  may  be  expressed  in  four 
particulars.  In  the  first  place  there  is  the  antiquarian 
department.  This  was  the  germ  of  the  whole  enterprise, 
the  nucleus  around  which  all  the  other  ideas  have  clus- 
tered. It  occurred  to  some  of  us  that  this  old  town  was 
rich  in  historical  and  antiquarian  relics  which  ought  to  be 
brought  together  and  preserved.  It  was  this  object  that 
gave  the  name  to  the  Society.  We  have  already  a  some- 
what valuable  collection,  and  we  trust  that  our  friends,  as 
they  see  what  we  have  done,  will  have  it  in  their  hearts  to 
add  thereto. 

Another  object  of  the  Society  was  to  provide  a  suitable 


38  HISTORIC  EEHOBOTH. 

hall  in  which  we  might  hold  our  large  public  gatherings. 
The  hall  speaks  for  itself  —  a  grand,  central  rallying  place 
for  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Rehoboth  on  all  great  occa- 
sions. The  Society  has  also  provided  a  fine  school  room, 
hoping  to  secure  the  advantages  of  a  high  school  for  our 
children.  For  this  object  an  ample  appropriation,  cither 
public  or  private,  is  greatly  needed. 

Last,  but  not  least,  is  our  library  department.  We  are 
delighted  with  our  bright,  cheery  room,  and  we  are  grate- 
ful to  our  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  T.  W.  Bicknell,  to  whose 
generous  interest  in  our  enteprise  we  owe  the  Blanding 
Library.  We  extend  to  them  a  most  cordial  welcome. 

There  are  various  factors  which  enter  into  this  great 
undertaking,  which,  we  trust,  has  only  begun  its  impor- 
tant educational  work  in  this  community.  We  must  not 
fail  to  recognize  the  unfeigned  interest  of  our  own  citi- 
zens who  have  contributed — some  of  them  from  their 
hard  earnings  —  sums  ranging  from  $10  up  to  $200. 
Like  sums  have  also  been  donated  by  former  residents  of 
the  town.  Friends  and  helpers  in  this  work,  we  bid  you 
all  welcome  here  to-day. 

But  with  all  our  gifts  combined  we  could  never  have 
built  this  elegant  and  commodious  edifice.  Some  build- 
ing we  should  doubtless  have  had,  but  it  would  not  have 
been  the  Goff  Memorial.  For  this  we  are  largely  indebted 
to  the  munificence  of  Mr.  Darius  Goff.  We  had  no  sooner 
put  our  united  sums  into  one  side  of  the  balance,  when 
his  contribution  brought  the  other  scale  hard  down,  and  it 
has  been  growing  heavier  ever  since.  We  congratulate 
him  that  on  this  very  spot  where  he  was  born  —  just  77 
years  ago  —  he  is  permitted  to-day  to  join  in  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Goff  Memorial.  Sir,  we  bid  you  welcome,  and 
of  all  your  seventy-seven  birthdays  may  this  be  the  hap* 
piest  and  the  best, 


HISTORIC  EEIIOBOTtt.  39 

Rev.  Mr.  Tilton  was  followed  by  a  statement  from  the 
Treasurer,  giving  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the 
Society  to  the  date  of  the  dedication. 

RECEIPTS. 

Received  by  subscription ^ $8,820  00 

From  Mr.  Darius  Goff $5,000  00 

From  citizens,  former  residents  and  friends..     3,820  00 
Of  this  sum  the   following   donations   have 
been  received  from  non-residents: 

Fiom  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  G.  Reed 150  00 

"      Mrs.  A.  D.  Lockwood  and  daughter. . .        100  00 

11      Mr.  Cyrenus  Wheeler,  Jr 100  00 

4i         "     Everett  S.  Horton 100  00 

"         "     Stephens.   Rich 50  00 

John  Baker 50  00 

John  W.  Davis 50  00 

Darius  B.  Davis 50  00 

Daniel  X.  Davis 50  00 

Samuel  O.  Case 5000 

Charles  H.  Scott 50  00 

David  S.  Ray 50  00 

Simeon  Hunt,  M.  D 50  00 

44      Mrs.  Laban  Wheaton 25  00 

"      Mr.  W.  H.  Whitaker 2500 

"        "    Jethniel  Feck 2500 

"      Horton  Brothers 2500 

Smaller  sums  have  been  received  from  others. 

Interest  on  deposit 114  04 

Received   proceeds   from  entertainment  for  benetit  of 

library 44  28 

Received  for  use  of  hall 5  00 

"        from  Farmers'  Club,  for  use  of  Library 7  00 

"        subscription  for  library 9  50 

"        proceeds  from  entertainment  for  benefit  of 

Antiquarian  Society 37  90 


Total $9,037  72 

EXPENDITURES. 

Paid  for  blank  books,  certificates,  etc $38  25 

"     Wm.  R.  Walker  &  Sou,  architects 300  00 

"     Lewis  T.  Hoar's  Sons,  contractors 5,499  71 

"           "             "             "       for  laths 0095 

14     Charles  II.  Bryant,  for  plastering 275  00 

"     Wm.  T.  Dunwell,  for  painting 19000 

"     Gustavus  B.  Peck,  for  lathiug,  etc 3650 


40  HISTORIC  KEIIOBOTII. 

"    David  S.  Ray,  furnace  setting,  etc 294  05 

George  N.  Goff ,  material  and  labor 503  99 

Carpenter  &  Bowen,  two  columns  and  plates 30  00 

Harrison  &  Howard,  for  glazing 12  50 

Charles  Martin,  mason 32  18 

James  H.  Horton,  mason 32  18 

Providence  Brown  Stone  Co 75  00 

Otis  and  Jeremiah  Horton 21  00 

Manchester  &  Hudson 45  08 

Flint  &  Co.,  furniture  for  hall 155  00 

A.  G.  Whitcomb,  school  furniture 234  00 

Whitmore  &  Couch,  black  boards 20  25 

French,  Mackenzie  &  Co.,  book  cases 38  70 

John  R.  Shirley,  for  chandeliers  and  lamps 100  75 

E.  L.  Freeman  &  Co 37  74 

for  wall 555  32 

labor  and  sundry  expenses 495  08 

Total $8,982  23 

Cash  to  balance 55  49 


.-•'.U).'i7  72 

The  contributions  of  Mr.  Darius  Goff.  in  giv- 
ing and  preparing  the  lot  for  the  structure, 
together  with  other  gifts,  make  his  entire 
donation  not  less  than  $10,000. 

WILLIAM  W.  BLANDIXG, 

Treasurer. 

Above  is  the  report  of  the  treasurer,  just  as  it  was  read 
at  the  dedication  exercises ;  but  in  this  record  it  seems 
but  just  to  mention  together,  without  distinction  in 
amounts  contributed,  ALL  who  have  given  either  of  large 
or  slender  means  toward  this  Memorial.  The  true  measure 
of  generosity  is  the  measure  of  sacrifice,  and  judged  by  that 
criterion  the  least  contributor  may  be  equal  in  honor  to 
the  greatest.  As  will  be  seen,  there  are  the  names  of 
the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  old  and  the  young ;  of  men  and 
women  alike.  Many  are  residents  of  Rehoboth  and  have 
wrought  out  their  contribution  from  their  ancestral  acres ; 
others  are  sons  and  daughters  of  the  ancient  town,  who 
have  gained  a  competency  in  other  municipalities ;  others, 


HISTORIC 


41 


still,  are  related  to  Rehoboth  by  the  bonds  of  mutual, 
industrial  and  commercial  interests.  To  all  alike,  as 
members  of  a  common  household,  an  equal  and  impartial 
recognition  is  given  in  the  appended 


NAMES    OF    CONTRIBUTORS. 


Darius  Goff, 
Galen  Pierce, 
J.  Irving  Chaffee, 
Sylvester  A.  Miller, 
Ellery  Millard, 
Stephen  S.  Rich, 
D.  G.  Horton, 
H.  N.  Moulton, 
John  A.  Earle, 
Uewit  C.  Carpenter, 
George  H.  Horton, 
Charles  L.  Nash, 
Ellery  Robinson, 
Benjamin  Hcrton, 
Joseph  R.  Carpenter, 
J.  Walter  Bliss, 
Enoch  Goff, 
Horton  Brothers, 
James  P.  Carpenter, 
Williams  Lake, 
Henry  C.  Goff, 
Jennie  P.  Martin, 
John  Baker. 
W.  H.  Whitaker, 
Johnson  Black, 
John  W.  Watson, 
John  W.  Davis, 
Mrs.  Laban  Wheaton, 
Charles  L.  Thomas, 
William  Walker, 
Simeon  Hunt,  M.  D., 
David  S.  Ray, 
John  O.  Horton, 
Edwin  F.  Gushing, 


William  L.  Pierce, 
William  B.  Blanding, 
Edward  H.  Horton, 
Elizabeth  B.  Pierce, 

A.  F.  C.  Monroe, 
Edgar  Perry, 

E.  A.  Medbury, 
Christopher  Y.  Brown, 
Samuel  O.  Case,  Jr., 
Albert  N.  Bullock, 
Julia  B.  Goff, 
James  Cornell, 
Herbert  L.  Moulton, 
W.  E.  Barrett  &  Co., 
John  Hunt, 

B.  G.  Goff, 
Catherine  J.  Hunt, 
George  W.  Bowen, 
Hale  S.  Luther, 
Farmers'  Club, 
Charles  W.  Goff, 
Thomas  W.  Carpenter, 
Albert  C.  Mason, 
Samuel  L.  Peck, 
Samuel  Remington, 
Oliver  Earle, 
George  H.  Tilton, 
Samuel  L.  Pierce, 
George  Baker,  M.  D., 
Darius  B.  Davis, 

T.  W.  Horton, 
Eliza  N.  Allen, 
Avice  Hicks, 
Nathan  E.  Hicks, 


42 


HISTORIC  KEHOBOTlt. 


Gustavus  B.  Peck, 
Jerry  W.  Horton, 
Albert  C.  Goff, 
Mrs.  Harriet  N.  Goff, 
Charles  F.  Viall, 
Mary  B.  Goff, 
Capt.  Isaiah  L.  Chase, 
Thomas  R.  Salsbury, 
Belle  H.  Bryant, 
William  Thatcher, 
Tristram  Thatcher^ 
William  H.  Bowen, 
Stephen  Carpenter, 
Charles  Perry, 
George  H.  Goff, 
George  Hathaway  Goff, 
Francis  J.  Wheeler, 
William  H.  Reed, 
Jasper  W.  Wheeler, 
Frank  E.  Luther, 
Esek  H.  Pierce, 
William  B.  Horton, 
Zenas  H.  Goff, 
Nathan  H.  Horton, 
Nathaniel  B.  Horton, 
Betsy  Carpenter, 
Francis  A.  Marvel, 
John  C.  Marvel, 
Joseph  F.  Earle, 
James  A.  Eddy, 
William  W.  Blanding, 
Abram  O.  Blanding, 
Sarah  M.  Bowen, 
Amanda  Wheaton, 
Elias  Hathaway, 
Danforth  L.  Cole, 
Jethnial  Peck, 
Ellen  M.  Marsh, 
Mrs.  Hannah  Bliss, 


John  W.  Humphrey, 
Amanda  M.  Brown, 
Joseph  H.  Pierce, 
Paschal  Allen, 
Dexter  W.  Horton, 
Henry  T.  Horton, 
Paschal  E.  Wilmarth, 
Edward  R.  Bullock, 
Delight  C.  Read, 
Royal  C.  Peck, 
Henry  G.  Read, 
Daniel  N.  Davis, 
Horace  F.  Carpenter, 
Samuel  O.  Case, 
Samuel  R.  Chaffee, 
Charles  H.  Scott, 
William  H.  Marvel, 
Elizabeth  M.  Anthony, 
Simeon  Goff, 
Peleg  E.  Francis, 
Almon  A.  Reed, 
William  H.  Luther, 
Hezekiah  Martin, 
Ellery  L.  Goff, 
Francis  A.  Bliss, 
Levi  L.  Luther, 
Welcome  F.  Horton, 
Cyrenus  Wheeler,  Jr., 
J.  W.  Briggs, 
James  M.  Peck, 
Everett  S.  Horton, 
George  N.  Goff, 
Henry  Selaney, 
Horace  Goff, 
William  H.  Hopkins, 
Nathaniel  M.  Burr, 
J.  W.  Buffington, 
William  W.  Horton, 


Mrs.  A.  D.  Lockwood  and  Daughters. 


HEHOBOTI1.  43 


THE  ORATION,  BY  HON.  T.  W.  BICKNELL. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,—  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

An  occasion  of  unusual  interest  and  importance  calls 
together  this  large  assemblage  in  this  old  New  England 
town  to-day.  The  event  justly  commands  the  attention  of 
all  her  citizens,  and  stirs  a  just  pride  in  all  hearts  within  her 
borders.  All  dedicatory  services  have  a  somewhat  sacred 
significance,  proportionate  to  the  value  of  the  work  to  be 
inaugurated,  be  it  the  dedication  of  a  home,  a  store,  a 
workshop,  a  mill,  a  school,  a  capitol,  a  church,  a  cathedral, 
or  a  temple  ;  all  in  their  inner  life  and  meaning  stand  for 
something  which  is  helpful  to  man  in  his  material,  social, 
or  soul  concerns.  The  structures  we  rear,  be  they  humble 
or  costly,  are  the  outer  environment,  which  have  much 
to  do  in  the  creation  of  the  man,  of  society,  the  state,  the 
church.  They  are  in  a  sense  the  expression  of  the  values 
men  place  on  the  offices  for  which  these  great  institutions 
stand.  Their  absence  shows  the  want  of  development  in 
all  that  relates  to  the  higher  nature  of  man,  his  duties  and 
his  destiny.  Stanley  tells  us  that  in  his  long  journey 
across  the  Dark  Continent  he  found  only  the  embryo  of 
the  home,  in  the  huts  of  the  dwellers  in  the  vast  Congo 
valley,  or  on  the  borders  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza.  The 
Apache  chief  mounts  his  Indian  pony,  followed  by  his 
family,  his  household  goods  ;  all  his  wordly  possessions 
are  borne  on  the  backs  of  the  pack  train.  He  pitches  his 
tent  at  night,  and  in  the  morning  folds  his  tent  like  the 
Arab  and  silently  steals  away.  Dedications  there  are  none, 
for  there  is  nought  to  be  dedicated,  and  no  want  which 
seeks  satisfaction  in  the  fixed  home  —  the  centre  of  all 
that  is  best  in  man,  and  about  which  clusters  all  that  adds 
£0  his  life's  progress  and  happiness.  How  upljke  tjiis  is. 


44  HISTORIC  IlEllOBOTU. 

the  dear  New  England  life  into  which  we  were  born, 
and  of  which  we  have  such  occasion  for  honest  con- 
gratulations ! 

On  the  deck  of  the  May  Flower  were  101  loyal  souls, 
sworn  to  stand  or  fall  together  in  this  new  land.  Between 
her  decks  was  a  cargo,  the  value  of  which  far  exceeds 
"  the  wealth  of  Ormus  or  of  Ind,  or  where  the  gorgeous 
East  with  richest  hand  showers  on  her  kings  barbaric 
pearls  and  gold."  The  families  on  board  represented  the 
millions  of  happy  homes  which  now  distinguish  our  land 
above  all  others.  Their  children  needed  the  guiding  hand 
of  education,  and  the  school  house  was  as  natural  an  out- 
growth of  the  home  as  the  children  for  which  the  school 
was  created.  As  religion  was  the  chief  concern  of  these 
Pilgrim  founders,  the  church  was  the  essential  expression 
and  home' of  this  band  of  faithful  men  and  women,  and  as 
civil  society  was  the  bond  of  their  faith  in  each  other  they 
built  the  town  house  and  state  house.  There  needed  to 
be  in  old  New  England  what  exists  in  new  New  England 
so  plentifully  —  these  outer  shrines,  which  should  shelter 
the  worshippers  at  the  altars  of  home,  the  school,  the 
state,  the  church. 

The  origin  and  structure  of  the  beautiful  edifice,  which 
we  meet  to  consecrate  to-day,  are  blessed  with  happy 
auguries,  which  are  full  of  good  omens  for  the  future. 
The  conception  and  birth  of  the  scheme  were  from  the 
fruitful  brain  of  the  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
of  Rehoboth,  a  most  worthy  successor  of  Revs.  Samuel 
Newman,  David  Turner,  Robert  Rogerson,  Otis  Thomp- 
son, John  C.  Paine,  Charles  P.  Grosvenor,  and  others. 
While  his  presence  forbids  the  utterances  which  are  in  all 
hearts,  we  can  never  cease  to  remember  or  to  be  grateful 
to  the  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Tilton  for  his  benevolent  purpose, 


HISTORIC  HE  11  OB 0  TIL  45 

his  practical  plans,  his  contagious  magnetism,  his  un- 
stinted labors,  his  unflagging  zeal,  and  the  wealth  of  his 
inventive  resources  in  the  leadership  of  this  movement, 
which  has  culminated  in  this  elegant  public  building.  Did 
I  say  less  than  this  at  this  opening  hour,  I  should  prove 
myself  unworthy  of  the  honor  you  have  granted  me  as  the 
speaker  of  the  occasion. 

Still  further,  how  fortunate  that  Rehoboth,  in  the  midst 
of  so  many  loyal  sons  and  daughters,  had  one  whose  bene- 
volence and  ability  responded  so  promptly  and  cheerfully 
to  the  wants  of  this  community;  one,  whose  loyalty  to  a 
noble  ancestry  and  devotion  to  his  native  town  led  him  to 
aid  most  generously  in  the  erection  of  this  edifice,  which 
as  long  as  the  "  Goff  Memorial  "  shall  stand,  will  be  a 
monument  to  well-directed  industry,  great  business  saga- 
city, and  a  life  consecrated  to  the  interests  of  his  fellows. 
By  this  act  our  honored  friend  and  benefactor  wisely  be- 
comes his  own  executor,  setting  a  worthy  example,  so  hon- 
orable and  praiseworthy  and  not  uncommon  in  these  later 
days,  by  which  other  large-hearted  and  liberal-handed  men 
may  be  inspired  and  guided  to  do  likewise,  in  this  and 
other  places,  in  tribute  to  the  ancestry  that  bore  and  the 
town  that  nurtured  them.  In  behalf  of  this  grateful 
people,  I  may  wish  for  you  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the 
good  gifts  your  energy  and  business  ability,  with  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  have  brought  you,  a  long  continuance 
in  the  enjoyments  of  friendships  fairly  won,  and  a  late 
return  to  Heaven. 

As  the  constant  drain  is  made  from  the  country  to  the 
city,  of  its  population,  its  enterprise  and  its  wealth,  it 
reminds  one  of  the  constant  flow  of  the  rivulets  to  the 
rivers,  and  of  the  rivers  to  the  sea,  carrying  from  hill  and 
mountain  slopes  the  rich  soils,  forming  the  alluvial 


46  HISTORIC 

meadows  and  broad  prairies  which  grow  the  world's 
harvests.  Were  there  no  returns  of  moisture  in  the 
evaporation  of  the  ocean,  which  the  winds  carry  in  fogs, 
rains  and  snows  to  add  new  supplies  to  the  unfailing 
springs  among  the  hills,  these  fountains  of  fertility,  of 
beauty,  of  growth,  and  of  wealth  to  the  valleys  would 
cease.  So  there  may  be  a  just  return  of  the  blessings  of 
wealth  from  wealth  centres,  by  sending  back  to  the  sec- 
tions less  favored  by  wealth  the  means  which  shall  keep  a 
healthy  supply  of  intelligent  population  to  make  good  the 
wear,  the  weakness  and  the  decay  of  forces  attendant  on 
large  populations  and  undue  wealth. 

And  yet  again  we  are  all  mindful  of  the  consecrated 
gifts  and  deeds  which  have  come  from  so  many  persons 
to  supplement  and  crown  the  benevolence  of  the  principal 
donor.  You  are  all  shareholders  in  a  greater  or  smaller 
measure  in  this  public  building.  The  widow's  mite,  the 
gifts  of  children,  the  labors  and  prayers  of  all  are  so  inter- 
linked and  built  into  this  edifice  that  it  would  fall  to  the 
ground  a  useless  heap  of  rubbish  without  them.  Its 
masonry  and  girders  are  Rehoboth  stock.  It  is  a  matter 
of  universal  remark  that  the  most  beautiful  ornamentation 
of  this  building  is  in  the  foundation  stone,  wrought  from 
the  quarries  on  Rocky  Hill.  Shall  we  not  all  agree  that 
the  spirit  of  the  people,  their  deep  interest  in  the  work, 
and  their  generous  gifts  —  proportionate  to  their  ability  — 
are  also  a  solid  and  beautiful  foundation  which  shall 
uphold  and  sustain  this  work  throughout  its  future.  We 
seem  to  see  these  toils  and  sacrifices  and  contributions 
transformed  into  hearts  that  shall,  protect  the  interests 
centered  within  these  walls,  and  we  also  seem  to  see  the 
coming  generations,  grateful  for  your  deeds,  and  ever 
mindful  of  the  service  yoii  are  this  day  rendering,  in. 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTIL  47 

more  beautiful  and  honorable  lives.  To  this  end  our  labors 
are  devoted  and  fortunately  happy  shall  we  be  if  this  rich 
result  shall  follow. 

There  is  great  significance  in  the  construction  and  uses 
of  the  building  we  dedicate  to-day.  The  architect  has 
arranged  within  these  walls  a  commodious  room  for  the 
Historic-Antiquarian  Society  of  Rehoboth,  another  for  a 
Public  Library,  a  third  for  a  Public  High  School,  and  over 
all  as  a  superintendent  and  supporter  of  the  other  three, 
this  public  hall  for  the  town's  use,  where  its  town  meet- 
ings will  be  held,  the  town's  business  transacted,  and  the 
interests  of  the  people  discussed  in  lectures,  debating 
clubs,  farmers'  associations,  temperance  unions,  concerts, 
school  exhibitions,  and  all  other  matters  that  will  tend  to 
regulate  and  elevate  society.  Like  the  fabled  giant 
Briareus  it  is  a  living  thing,  having  fifty  heads  and  a 
hundred  hands.  It  looks  through  its  historic  society  into 
the  past,  and  with  its  hands  seizes  all  that  the  old  time 
has  to  give.  The  school  and  the  library  have  a  forward 
look  and  grasp  in  fitting  the  boys  and  girls  for  the  warfare 
of  life,  in  the  strength  and  protection  of  education;  while 
the  town,  in  its  corporate  life  and  work,  represents  the 
busy  interests  of  the  passing  hour,  debating,  counselling, 
acting,  and  in  its  various  agencies  working  the  works  of 
to-day.  Of  each  of  these  plans  I  propose  to  speak 
briefly. 

American  life  is  now  in  a  transition  period  ;  old  things 
are  passing  away,  all  things  becoming  new.  We  are  to-day 
on  a  mount  of  vision,  looking  back  into  old  Rehoboth  of 
the  past,  and  forward  into  the  New  Rehoboth  of  the  future. 
Out  of  the  old  the  new  is  born,  and  the  laws  of  heredity 
are  too  compulsory  to  be  set  aside.  There  comes  a  time 
to  every  man  and  society  when  it  is  both  wise  and  profitable 
to  take  a  backward  look.  The  poet's  words  are  true — 


48  HISTORIC  EEHOB 0  TIL 

"  'Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with  our  past  hours, 

And  ask  them  what  report  they've  borne  to  Heaven, 

And  how  they  might  have  borne  more  welcome  news ; 
Their  answers  form  what  men  experience  call." 

Youth  and  prophecy  have  their  eyes  on  the  to-morrows 
of  life-age  and  history  on  the  yesterdays,  while  our  yester- 
days and  our  to-morrows  must  find  their  full  fruition  in 
the  results  of  our  to-days.  How  beautifully  this  fact  is 
illustrated  in  the  almost  historic  painting  of  Malbone,  our 
Newport  artist,  in  the  Three  Graces,  or  as  the  Greeks 
personified  them,  Eunomia,  Dice  and  Irene,  in  the  Athe- 
naeum at  Providence.  The  artist's  conception  is  to  paint 
an  ideal  of  life,  and  three  female  figures  are  presented, 
full  of  all  the  grace  and  loveliness  art  could  give.  The 
form  on  your  right  is  glowing  with  beauty,  and  radiant 
with  sublime  hopefulness.  She  stands  as  the  tpye  of 
youth  and  the  future.  The  central  figure  is  severely 
earnest,  devout,  courageous,  and  this  is  manhood,  and  the 
present.  The  figure  on  the  left  has  her  head  partially 
averted.  She  is  serious,  meditative,  introspective,  and 
represents  age  and  the  past.  Each  by  herself  is  a  study 
of  the  three  important  epochs  of  human  life,  and  each  has 
its  lessons,  but  what  the  artist  would  tell  us,  it  seems  to 
me  is  this,  that  the  perfect,  the  harmonious  human  life 
has  in  it,  the  hopefulness  of  youth,  the  earnestness  of 
manhood,  and  the  contemplativeness  of  age  ;  that  the  past 
must  chasten  the  future,  and  that  its  lessons,  its  tradi- 
tions, its  life,  must  be  read  and  understood  that  we  may 
most  truly  work  the  works  of  to-day.  He  who  respects 
the  past  has  the  truest  interest  in  the  present,  and  the 
highest  regard  for  the  coming  time.  We  may  rejoice, 
therefore,  that  this  dedication  service  relates  to  all  that  is 
worthy  of  possession  in  the  treasures  of  the  past,  the 
active  labors  of  the  present,  and  the  hopes  of  the  future  ; 


HISTORIC  JlEHOSOTff.  49 

and  the  Town  Hall,  the  Antiquarian  Society  rooms,  the 
Blanding  Library  and  the  School  have  each  a  place  in  this 
threefold  mission  of  the  town  — preservation,  protection, 
progress. 

How  intensely  interesting  is  the  history  of  towns  and 
town  life  of  old  New  England,  and  especially  of  this  old 
town,  and  how  delightful  it  is  to  review  some  of  its  half- 
forgotten  pages,  to  draw  lessons  therefrom  for  present 
use.  Here  in  this  roomy  place,  breathing  an  atmosphere 
filled  with  the  traditions  of  an  earlier  day,  in  the  midst  of 
the  graves  of  an  honored  ancestry,  looking  upon  some 
homes  that  far  antedate  the  Revolution,  and  upon  ances- 
tral estates  which  still  bear  the  landmarks  set  by  the  early 
planters,  our  hearts  are  stirred  by  strange  influences,  and 
we  must  not  forget  old  Rehoboth  in  our  rejoicing  over  the 
new  Rehoboth  that  is,  and  is  to  be.  For  two  hundred  and 
forty  years  it  has  stood  for  the  principles  of  the  founders 
of  Plymouth  Colony,  of  which  it  was  an  integral  part. 
When  Rehoboth  received  its  charter  in  1645,  there  were 
but  ten  towns  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mother 
Colony — Plymouth,  Duxbury,  Scituate,  Sandwich,  Taun- 
ton,  Barnstable,  Yarmouth,  Marshfield,  Eastham,  Rehoboth. 

When  Stephen  Payne  and  William  Carpenter  made  a 
journey  to  Plymouth  in  1645,  to  secure  articles  of  incor- 
poration for  the  Indian  Seacunck,  this  was  the  western 
frontier  town  of  Massachusetts.  Wm.  Blackston,  the  first 
white  inhabitant  of  Rehoboth,  dwelt  in  his  Eutopian 
hermitage  at  a  place  called  by  him  "  Study  Hill,"  on  the 
Blackstone.  near  the  present  village  of  Lonsdale. 

Roger  Williams,  with  his  faithful  followers  dwelt  as  yet 
unrecognized,  save  as  outlaws  and  reprobates,  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  peaceful  Pawtucket,  at  the  head  of  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay.  On  the  south  the  nearest  dwellers  were 


so  HISTORIC  XEIIOBOTJI. 

the  Wampanoags  under  the  wise  and  pacific  Massasoit, 
occupying  the  territory  now  known  as  Swanzea,  Barring- 
ton,  Warren  and  Bristol,  after  the  deed  of  the  ten  mile 
purchase  of  Seekonk  in  1641.  A  few  of  the  first  families 
of  Taunton  had  settled  along  the  hanks  of  the  Titicut,  on 
the  line  of  the  route  marked  out  by  Bradford  and  Winslow 
on  their  first  visit  to  Massasoit  at  Sowans  in  1621.  Here 
lay  a  great  tract  of  unsettled  country,  with  a  good  south- 
ern and  western  outlook,  which  bordered  on  Narragansett 
Bay  with  its  fisheries  and  future  commerce,  and  hither 
the  family  emigration,  which  set  in  in  1620  at  Plymouth, 
continued  to  flow,  to  settle  the  waste  places  between  the 
Titicut  and  the  Pawtucket,  and  this  family  social  exodus 
from  England  to  America,  the  planting  of  the  towns  of 
Plymouth  and  the  Bay  Colonies,  are  the  remarkable  charac- 
teristics of  this  permanent  occupation  of  New  England. 
Rehoboth,  the  large  place,  was  waiting  the  sifted  wheat  of 
three  plantings. 

As  the  unit  of  society  is  the  individual,  so  the  unit  of 
civilization  is  the  family,  and  to  carry  our  arithmetic 
still  further,  the  town  is  the  unit  of  the  American 
State.  When  the  Northmen  landed  on  our  shores,  so 
says  the  historian,  only  one  woman  attended  these  bold 
sea  rovers.  Men  can  discover  continents  alone,  but  they 
cannot  found  a  state.  To  the  Pilgrim  and  the  Puritan, 
wife,  children,  house,  home,  family,  church,  were  the  most 
precious  possessions.  Nothing  human  could  divorce  ties 
which  nature  had  so  strongly  woven.  And  whenever  we 
think  of  our  honored  ancestry,  it  is  not  as  individual 
adventurers  ;  but  we  see  good-man,  good-wife,  and  their 
children  as  the  representatives  of  the  great  body  of  those 
who  with  them  planted  homes,  families,  society,  civiliza- 
tion, in  the  Western  world.  They  came  together,  or,  if 


HISTOEIC  REHOBOTH.  51 

alone,  to  pioneer  the  way  for  wife  and  children  or  sweet- 
heart by  the  next  ship,  and  they  came  to  stay,  as  witness 
the  names  of  the  old  families  of  Plymouth,  Weymouth, 
Salem,  Boston,  Dorchester,  in  the  leading  circles  of  wealth 
and  social  position  in  all  of  these  old  towns.  "Behold," 
says  Dr.  Bushnell,  "the  Mayflower,  rounding  now  the 
southern  cape  of  England,  filled  with  husbands  and  wives 
and  children  ;  families  of  righteous  men,  under  covenant 
with  God  and  each  other  to  lay  some  good  foundation  for 
religion,  engaged  both  to  make  and  keep  their  own  laws, 
expecting  to  supply  their  own  wants  and  bear  their  own 
burdens,  assisted  by  none  but  the  God  in  whom  they  trust. 
Here  are  the  hands  of  industry,  the  germs  of  liberty,  the 
dear  pledges  of  order,  and  the  sacred  beginnings  of  a 
home."  Of  such,  only,  could  Mrs.  Heman's  inspired  hymn 
have  been  written  : 

"  There  were  men  with  hoary  hair 

Amidst  that  pilgrim  band ; 
Why  had  they  come  to  wither  then-. 
Away  from  their  childhood's  laa  1  '.' 

There  was  woman's  fearless  eye, 

Lit  by  her  deep  love's  truth; 
There  was  manhood's  brow  serenely  high. 

And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth." 

Hither  from  Weymouth  came  Peter  Hunt  and  family  ; 
Walter  Palmer,  ditto  ;  Rev.  Samuel  Newman,  William, 
Edward  and  Henry  Smith,  Robert  Martin,  Richard 
Bowen,  Stephen  Payne,  John  Browne,  Obadiah  Holmes, 
Robert  Wheaton,  Thomas  Bliss,  John  Miller,  John  Dag- 
gett,  Richard  Bullock,  William  Blanding,  John  Allin,  Mr. 
Peck,  and  among  others,  possibly  not  least  in  some  of 
their  transactions,  William  Devil,  with  a  numerous 
progeny. 


52  HIS  TOR  1C  11EIIODO  TIL 

Now  these  picked  English  families,  which  settled  Reho- 
both  under  the  head  of  that  celebrated  divine,  Samuel 
Newman,  were  the  best  seed  ever  planted  for  the  growth 
of  colonial  life.  The  home  was  the  center  and  circumfer- 
ence of  toil,  thought  and  affection.  For  this  they  perilled 
all,  and  its  value  was  more  precious  than  life.  Naturally 
enough  in  this  isolated  life  in  a  wilderness  it  developed 
what  was  and  is  the  glory  of  our  New  England  society, 
a  race  of  stalwart,  individual,  independent  men  and 
women.  You  have  doubtless  often  wondered  how  the 
free  spirited  Minerva  of  our  early  days  could  have  sprung 
full  panoplied  from  the  head  of  the  monarchical  Jupiter  of 
English  society  of  the  seventeenth  century  ;  but  it  is  not 
a  wonder  of  an  hour's  duration  when  you  picture  the  con- 
ditions of  that  rugged  pioneer.  The  homestead  and  the 
farmsteads  were  detached,  one  apart  from  another,  often 
miles  away.  The  great  house  with  its  lean-to  was  the 
product  of  the  carpentry  and  masonic  skill  of  the  owner. 
The  good  man  made  his  own  tools,  furniture,  carts, 
wagons,  ploughs,  etc.  Within  doors,  the  good  wife  made 
herself  more  famous  than  the  virtuous  women  of  the  Pio- 
verds  of  King  Lemuel,  for  she  also  sought  wool  and  flax, 
and  wrought  diligently  with  spinning  wheel,  distaff  and 
loom,  for  the  clothing  of  her  household,  by  day  and  by 
night.  Like  the  merchant  ships  she  brought  her  food 
from  all  obtainable  quarters.  She  often  considered  a 
field,  to  buy  it,  and  with  the  fruits  of  her  hands  she  planted 
her  vines.  She  perceived  that  her  merchandise  was  good, 
and  her  candle. went  not  out  by  night  while  she  laid  her 
hands  to  the  spindle  and  the  needle.  Neither  she  nor  her 
household  feared  a  New  England  winter,  for  her  hands 
had  wrought  the  garments  that  protected.  She  looked 
well  to  the  wants  of  her  children,  and  ate  not  the  bread 


HlSTOlilC  UE110130TII.  53 

of  idleness.  As  the  result,  we,  her  descendants,  rise  up 
and  call  her  blessed,  and  can  say  most  devoutly  :  Many 
daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but  thou,  O  good-wife 
Newman,  Bliss,  Carpenter,  et  id  genus  omne,  excellest 
them  all.  This  was  a  training  for  citizenship  that  a  prince 
might  envy,  yet  never  possess.  Not  only  was  each  man 
and  woman  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  but  every- 
thing that  related  to  it,  and  the  lazy  dog  who  would  not 
earn  his  daily  bread,  and  the  shrew  who  talked  and 
scolded,  was  either  disciplined  at  the  whipping  post  or 
ducked  in  the  frog  pond.  There  was  then  no  Illinois 
prairies  and  Minneapolis  flour  mills  to  feed  the  family;  no 
cattle  market  at  Chicago,  and  no  Porkopolis  at  Cincin- 
nati. All  was  home  produced  and  home  consumed,  except 
as  the  laws  of  barter  and  interchange  enabled  one  neigh- 
bor to  accommodate  another.  The  Massachusetts  town  of 
two  centuries  ago  was  as  independent  a  community  as 
could  be  found  on  the  planet,  and  each  of  its  integral 
families  was  self-protecting,  self-supporting  and  self-per- 
petuating, and  without  any  law  of  primogeniture  as  to 
landed  estates  or  rank,  the  families  of  the  tenth  generation 
to-day  cultivate  the  ancestral  acres  and  cherish  the  family 
heirlooms  of  the  settlers  of  the  first  planting. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  society,  peerage  was  a  common 
inheritance,  for  every  man  felt  himself  the  equal  of  his 
neighbor,  and  blood  counted  only  as  it  was  capable  of  con- 
quest over  a  stubborn  soil  and  an  inhospitable  climate. 
An  attempt  was  made  in  the  sister  municipality  of  Swan- 
sea to  transplant  there  a  foreign  system  of  ranks  to  her 
soil,  corresponding  to  the  three  Roman  orders,  the  Patri- 
cian, the  Equestrian  and  the  Plebeian.  In  1670  the  town 
passed  a  law,  that  the  people  should  be  divided  into  three 
ranks,  according  to  the  landed  property  of  each  ;  the  first 


il  HISTORIC  HEHOBOTH. 

rank  holding  three  acres  to  two  for  the  second  and  one  for 
the  third,  in  this  way  building  up  a  landed  aristocracy, 
with  a  committee  for  the  admission  of  inhabitants  and  the 
appointment  of  land.  The  full  meaning  of  this  aristo- 
cratic legislation  was  not  seen  until  it  was  ordered,  in 
1 68 1,  that  Capt.  John  Brown,  formerly  of  Rehoboth,  and 
others,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  forever  should  enjoy  the 
full  right  and  intent  of  the  highest  rank.  Then  the  town 
entered  its  unanimous  protest  against  the  undemocratic 
acts  of  the  magnates,  and  this  element  of  feudal  tyranny 
passed  into  everlasting  oblivion.  This  independency  of 
the  individual,  the  integrity  and  purity  of  the  family,  and 
the  almost  complete  autonomy  of  the  town,  were  the  result 
not  only  of  the  native  spirit  and  genius  of  this  remarkable 
people,  but  also  were  supported  and  perpetuated  by  agen- 
cies which  were  of  universal  application  in  the  Puritan  or 
Pilgrim  towns  of  these  colonies. 

As  has  been  seen,  this  New  England  town  grew  out  of 
the  germ  of  associated  action.  The  proprietary,  the 
church,  the  village,  all  required  aggregation,  combination 
and  unity  of  action.  Self-preservation  and  a  common 
sentiment  of  protection  compelled  this  course.  See  what 
valuable  results  flowed  from  what  may  have  been  at  first 
only  an  impulse  to  preserve  life  and  property.  Social 
order  was  mac1  j  possible.  Scattered  settlements  generated 
excessive  individuality  and  independence.  Mankind  easily 
revert  to  barbarism,  often  easily  enough  in  the  midst  of 
civilization,  but  more  readily  in  isolated  life.  Hermitism  is 
only  one  remove  from  criminal  desperation.  It  is  the  mor- 
bid sentiment  which  leads  men  to  attempt  to  destroy  society 
by  a  removal  from  it  —  a  determination  to  punish  society 
for  its  offences  by  punishing  one's  self  ;  a  sort  of  moral  and 
social  suicide.  With  the  savage  in  the  forest,  the  homes 


of  New  England  were  protected  only  by  the  midnight 
guard  which  could  watch  over  the  village.  What  was  a 
virtue  of  necessity,  was  also  the  virtue  of  instinct,  and  the 
guarantee  of  "the  highest  social  order,  and  the  existence 
and  protection,  of  the  best  agencies  and  forces  in  society. 
In  union  was  their  salvation  as  well  as  their  strength. 

In  the  first  place,  the  morals  of  society  were  protected  in 
this  village  life.  The  common  scandal  of  the  town  was  at 
once  the  prevention  and  the  cure  for  social  disorder. 
"  What  will  the  neighbors  say  ?  "  had  a  powerful  deterrent 
influence  among  the  evil  minded.  Village  gossip,  conducted 
by  Mrs.  Grundy,  her  ancestors  and  descendants,  may  be  a 
hateful  medicine,  but  it  works  wonderful  cures.  The 
thumb  screw  and  the  whipping  post  were  terrible  inflic- 
tions, but  these  were  no  terrors  to  the  common  scold,  the 
termagant,  or  the  disturbers  of  the  village  peace.  Public 
opinion  in  a  New  Englacd  village  two  hundred  years  ago 
was  the  real  preserver  of  the  high  standard  of  virtue, 
morality,  high  regard  for  law,  and  the  protection  of  indi- 
vidual and  social  reputation  —  more  potent  than  the  officer 
of  justice  and  the  lockup.  In  the  second  place,  church 
life  was  made  possible  in  the  New  England  village  of  our 
fathers.  Robust  religious  life  is  best  fostered  in  a  com- 
munity of  sturdy  settlers,  each  of  whom  has  an  identity,  a 
home,  and  the  means  of  general  intelligence.  The  two 
sermons  on  Sunday,  the  weekly  prayer  meeting,  the 
lecture,  the  prayerful  visit  of  the  Godly  minister,  the  per- 
sonal solicitude  for  souls,  reaching  almost  to  morbid 
fanaticism,  were  only  possible  in  communities  more  or  less 
compact  and  united  by  a  common  and  a  personal  interest. 
Inter-marriages  made  the  interests  the  sharper,  and  the 
inter-twinings,  linkings  and  lacings  of  our  New  England 
families  are  the  marvellous  studies  of  the  genealogist  and 


56  HISTORIC  XEIIOB 0  Til. 

socialist  of  our  times.  Young  men  and  maidens  fall  in 
love,  court  and  marry  in  a  sensible  way,  only  in  the  pre- 
sence of  their  fellows.  These  delighful  experiences  lose 
all  their  romance,  and  half  their  delight,  outside  the 
restraints,  the  counter-matching,  the  frolicking  and  the 
flirting  of  the  town.  Compare  the  loneliness  of  a  court- 
ship with  your  lady  love  twenty  miles  away  in  a  log  cabin 
in  the  woods,  with  no  rival  wooer,  whose  plots  and  coun- 
terplots are  your  daily  study  and  nightly  dream,  with  the 
sprightliness,  the  joy  and  the  heavenly  satisfaction  of 
wooing  and  winning  the  belle  of  the  town,  after  repulses 
and  rebuffs,  encouraging  smile  and  discouraging  rival  ; 
her  whose  beauty  has  smitten  the  heart  of  every  bashful 
village  beau,  and  whose  heart  and  hand  have  been  sought 
by  all  whose  courage  was  equal  to  the  encounter.  With 
such  sport,  trout  fishing  or  fox  hunting  have  small  attrac- 
tions and  little  fun,  and  the  capture  of  the  beauteous 
village  maiden  is  an  exploit  which  in  its  progress  has  occu- 
pied the  pens  of  novelists  and  poets  for  the  ages.  'Twas 
the  village  that  gave  zest  and  interest  to  the  four  week's 
publishment,  the  first  announcement  of  which  was  so  much 
more  entertaining  to  the  village  gossips  than  the  environ- 
ments of  modern  engagements  and  match  making.  And 
then  again,  where  could  the  donation  parties,  the  tea  par- 
ties, the  quilting  bees,  the  huskings,  the  paring  bees,  the 
house  raisings,  the  ploughing  matches,  have  found  their 
free  development  and  fruition  save  in  our  old  New  England 
towns.  When  we  consider  that  all  that  is  left  to  us  of  all 
these  old-time  social  joys  is  the  degenerate  skating  rink, 
we  may  well  sigh  for  some  return  of  the  good  old  days  of 
town  life  before  railroads,  telegraphs  and  hourly  mail 
deliveries  had  made  it  possible  to  conduct  business  in 
your  office  easy  chair,  with  people  half  round  the  globe 


HISTORIC  RE  HOI!  0  TIL  37 

whom  you  never  expect  to  see ;  court  and  marry  by  light- 
ning, and  listen  to  the  minister's  sermon  on  Sunday  by 
the  telephone  leading  from  the  sounding  board  in  the 
church  to  your  bed-chamber. 

Little  emphasis,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  been  placed  on 
New  England  village  life  as  the  patron  and  fosterer  uf 
that  remarkable  ministry  which  has  made  that  era  so 
wonderful  in  its  theology  and  this  logical  outcome.  Look 
back  over  New  England  life  two  and  one-half  centuries 
ago,  and  the  central  figure  of  every  town  is  the  minister 
of  the  old  church  on  the  hill  top  or  on  the  village  green. 
The  dignity,  the  majesty  of  that  early  day  is  personified 
in  the  pastor  and  teacher  of  the  town.  When  you  think 
of  old  Dorchester,  the  Mathers  rise  before  you  ;  Brewster, 
of  Plymouth  ;  Peter  Hobart,  of  Hingham  ;  John  Harvard, 
of  Cambridge  ;  Roger  Williams,  of  Providence ;  John 
Myles,  of  Swansea;  and  Samuel  Newman,  of  Rehoboth  ; 
men  of  piety  unfeigned,  of  sobriety  unchallenged,  of 
scholarship  profound  for  the  times,  of  continuous  preach- 
ing capacity,  endless.  The  New  England  pastor  of  olden 
time  was  the  factotum  of  the  town  —  minister,  teacher, 
judge,  counsellor,  doctor,  surgeon,  undertaker,  scribe, 
school  committee,  town  clerk,  et  cetera,  et  cetera.  Where 
duty  or  necessity  called  there  you  found  him.  He  an- 
swered every  call  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  and  listened 
to  all  appeals  either  to  shoulder  his  musket  and  march 
against  the  Indians,  or  to  lead  his  sermons  with  ammuni- 
tions fit  to  kill  rebellious  souls.  He  dispenses  preaching 
in  large  measure  but  often  dispenses  with  the  Gospel. 
His  theology  was  as  terrific  as  Sinai,  square-faced  as  the 
Pyramids  and  as  dry  as  a  mummy.  Should  another  deluge 
engulf  the  earth,  a  library  of  the  theology  of  the  Christian 
fathers  of  New  England  would  be  the  dryest  if  not  the 


hottest  place  that  could  be  discovered.  By  its  aid  and  in 
spite  of  its  terrific  thunderings  and  lightnings,  it  saved 
New  England  character  and  energized  its  life.  Only  the 
descendants  of  Thor  could  stand  and  prevail  midst  the 
display  of  his  mighty  energy.  The  main  body  of  our 
literature  till  within  a  century  came  from  the  brains  and 
pens  of  our  divines.  Cruden's  Concordance,  of  such 
world-wide  use  in  the  study  of  the  Bible,  was  the  product 
of  Rev.  Samuel  Newman,  of  Rehoboth,  who  was  styled  the 
Neander  of  New  England.  The  length  of  their  pastorates 
made  them  objects  of  special  veneration,  and  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  the  Barrington  urchin  of  1785,  when 
asked  who  was  the  first  man,  replied  "Mr.  Townsend," 
since  his  venerable  form  and  figure  gave  to  all  the  impres- 
sion of  the  nearness  of  the  Ancient  of  Days. 


INTERIOR  VIEAV  OF  THE  OLD  BALLOU  MEETING   HOl'SK. 

As  may  be  inferred  from  what  I  have  said  concerning 
the  ministry,  and  the  almost  sacred  veneration  in  which 
the  ministerial  office  was  held,  the  ecclesiastic  dominated 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  59 

in  civil  affairs.  As  the  pastor  was  the  central  figure 
among  individuals,  so  the  church  was  the  all  powerful 
organization  in  society.  Rehoboth  was  created  for  the 
church,  not  the  church  for  Rehoboth.  The  church  was  in 
many  senses  the  town.  The  town  elected  and  supported 
the  minister,  determined  his  qualifications,  and  dismissed 
him  for  cause.  His  orthodoxy  or  otherdoxy  was  deter- 
mined in  town  meeting.  He  was  the  father  of  the  town 
fathers,  and  at  the  same  time  was  the  servant  of  their 
servants.  Town  politics  and  State  policy  were  discussed 
in  the  pulpits  ;  and  everybody  went  to  church  to  hear  the 
new  publishments,  to  learn  the  news  and  the  latest  gossip, 
to  get  fresh  unction  on  the  doctrine  of  predestination,  the 
perseverance  of  the  saints,  and  condition. of  unregenerate 
infants  and  heathen,  and  name  the  candidates  for  tithing 
men,  constable  or  deputy  to  the  General  Court.  The 
meeting-house  was  the  scene  of  baptisms,  polemic  theology 
and  funerals  on  Sundays,  and  of  the  most  tremendous 
muscular  Christianity  on  the  following  week  days,  when 
the  intellectual  giants  of  the  town  met  to  settle  town  and 
State  destinies. 

I  wish  I  could  portray  to  you  the  religious  aspect  of 
the  early  town  meetings  of  our  grandfathers.  The  scene 
is  worthy  of  an  abler  artist,  and  would  demand  an  even- 
ing's portrayal.  Let  it  suffice  that  I  call  attention  to  it, 
that  some  of  our  new  society  may  take  the  task  to  pre- 
serve its  profusely  sacred  lineaments.  Here  freeman  met 
freeman  with  an  honorable  desire  to  glorify  God,  and  to 
serve  the  civil  community.  The  ballot  box,  which  was 
originally  probably  the  senior  deacon's  bell  crowned  hat, 
witnessed  no  stuffing  unless,  perchance,  it  may  have  been 
with  the  deacon's  new  bandanna,  used  occasionlly  to  re- 
lieve the  good  man's  snuff-taking  olfactories,  with  sten- 
torian accompaniments.  The  ministerial  prayer  opened 


(50  1IIST<HII<-  REHOBOTH. 

the  annual  and  special  town-meeting,  as  it  did  almost 
every  gathering  at  which  the  minister  met  his  people, 
while  the  long  meter  doxology  closed  the  services  in 
which  victor  and  vanquished  politician  joined  with  grace 
and  heartiness.  Even  as  late  as  1870,  in  the  town  in 
which  I  reside,  at  its  last  town  election  prior  to  its  merg- 
ing its  corporate  life  in  the  great  city  of  Boston,  the  exer- 
cises were  commenced  by  a  devout  prayer  offered  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Means,  the  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church. 
Gradually  as  the  years  rolled  on  towards  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  hold  of  the  clergy  on  the 
people,  of  the  ecclesiastical  on  the  civil,  lessened,  but  the 
influence  of  the  minister  and  the  church,  while  less  direc- 
tive in  social  and  civil  affairs  was  not  diminished,  but 
rather  increased,  and  while  we  can  never  cease  to  recog- 
nize and  be  grateful  for  what  the  churches  and  ministries 
of  old  New  England  have  done  in  the  making  of  New 
England,  we  may  also  be  grateful  for  their  enfranchise- 
ment of  State  and  church,  each  to  occupy  more  as  became 
an  advanced  civilization,  their  true  places  in  the  harmo- 
nious development  of  man  and  society. 

Too  much  importance  cannot  be  attached  to  the  town 
meeting  of  our  early  colonial  history,  as  an  educator  of 
the  people,  and  as  a  preserver  of  their  liberties.  In  the 
open  town  meeting  were  discussed  the  weightest  affairs 
of  church  and  State.  All  the  freeman  not  only  had  a 
voice  in  these  discussions,  but  were  compelled  by  law  to 
attend,  at  the  cost  of  fine  or  imprisonment.  In  the  town 
meeting,  the  meeting  houses  were  located,  and  the  minis- 
ter selected ;  highways  were  ordered  laid  out,  public 
houses  were  granted  rights,  and  licenses  were  allowed, 
military  affairs  were  discussed,  arms  and  ammunition  were 
provided,  and  military  officers  were  elected ;  officers  were 
elected  to  preside  over  the  town's  affairs,  to  look  after  and 


11E1IOBOTU.  61 

care  for  the  poor,  to  return  a  valuation  of  estates  and  to 
Iqvy  taxes,  to  provide  wolf-traps,  brand  marks  for  horses  ; 
tything  man  to  collect  ministerial  rates,  and  watch  incor- 
rigible boys  on  Sunday ;  schools  were  set  up  and  school- 
masters chosen.  The  town  meeting  ordered  the  records 
of  births,  marriages  and  deaths  ;  chose  all  necessary  town 
officers  and  deputies  to  the  General  Court.  In  1670  it 
was  voted  "that  none  shall  vote  in  town  meeting  but 
freemen,  or  freeholders  of  twenty  pounds  ratable  estate, 
and  of  good  conversation,  having  taken  the  oath  of 
fidelity." 

What  a  school  of  training  was  this  in  the  arts  of  town 
craft  and  states  craft.  Vigilance  in  matters  relating  to 
the  town  was  naturally  extended  to  other  matters,  relating 
to  the  affairs  of  sister  towns,  the  colony,  and  sister 
colonies.  So  sprung  up  these  little  commonwealths, 
where  the  intelligent  and  responsible  freeholders  exercised 
themselves  in  all  their  public  affairs,  the  greater  common- 
wealths to  which  were  transferred  the  same  jealous  care, 
honest  service,  and  high-minded  administration. 

But  I  must  not  leave  unnoticed  another  figure  which 
looms  up  giant-like  in  the  midst  of  the  men  and  events  of 
that  earlier  day.  I  refer  to  the  village  or  district  school- 
master, the  much  hated  man  of  his  own  day,  and  the 
much  praised  man  of  ours.  James  Russell  Lowell  says 
that  the  American  Revolution  was  really  fought,  and  its 
victories  won  a  century  and  more  before  it  occurred,  when 
Massachusetts  passed  the  law  establishing  free  schools  in 
every  town  in  the  colony.  The  people  of  these  old  towns 
in  Plymouth  Colony  were  as  earnest  to  educate  as  to 
Christianize  their  children,  and  the  right  ways  of  learning 
were  to  them  as  sacred  as  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord.  In 
fact  the  road  to  the  church  led  past  the  school  house  from 
every  New  England  home,  Three  years  before  the  famous 


62  HISTOEIC  EEHOBOTH. 

Massachusetts  ordinance  of  1647,  the  Magna  Charta  of 
our  liberties,  the  proprietors  of  this  town  set  apart  lands 
to  the  value  of  £$0  for  the  school  master,  and  the  records 
of  the  town  bear  witness  to  the  interest  the  people  took 
in  the  school  life  of  their  children.  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  early  school-master  was  not  always  the  most  learned 
man  in  the  community,  provided  he  was  a  man  that  was 
orthodox  and  able  to  flog  the  big  boys.  Brawn  rather 
than  brain  was  one  of  the  chief  requisites  in  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  good  school-master.  Possibly  some  of  this 
audience  have  not  forgotten  the  lineal  descendants  of 
Ichabod  Crane,  who  wielded  the  birchen  rod,  in  the  old 
red  or  no-colored  school  house,  of  their  early  days. 
You  can  say  with  Goldsmith  : 

"  A  man  severe  he  was  aiid  stern'to  view, 
I  knew  him  well  as  every  truant  knew  ; 
Well  had  the  boding  youngster  learned  to  trace 
The  day's  disasters  in  his  morning  face. 
Full  well  they  laughed  with  counterfeited  glee 
At  all  his  jokes,  for  many  a  joke  had  he. 
While  words  of  learned  length  and  thundering  sound. 
Amazed  the  simple  rustics  gathered  round!" 

The  school-master  was  not  a  worldly  man,  then,  as  he 
is  not  to-day.  Bliss  says  in  his  history  of  "  Rehoboth,  that 
in  1680  the  townsmen  made  a  treaty  with  Mr.  Edward 
Howard  to  teach  school  for  £,20  a.  year,  in  country  pay, 
and  his  diet,  beside  what  the  Court  doth  allow  in  that 
case."  The  court  allowance  here  referred  to  was  an 
apportionment  of  certain  moneys  from  the  income  of  cod 
fisheries  and  whales.  Mr.  William  Sabin  was  a  man  of  so 
generous  a  mould  that  he  freely  proffered  to  diet  him  the 
first  quarter.  William  Carpenter  was  ordered  to  procure 
shingles,  boards  and  nails  to  repair  the  school  house,  and 
make  it  fit  to  keep  school  in.  Later  Thomas  Robinson 
was  engaged  to  keep  a  reading  and  writing-  school.  Later 


ea 

still  Robert  Dickson  was  engaged  to  "  do  his  utmost  en* 
deavor  to  teach  both  sexes  of  boys  and  girls  to  read  Eng- 
lish and  write  and  cast  accounts,"  for  which  he  was  to 
receive  "^£13  pounds,  orle-half  in  silver  money  and  the 
other  half  in  good  merchantable  boards  at  the  current  and 
merchantable  prices." 

John  Lynn  was  engaged  to  teach  school  for  a  year  at 
"  the  ring  of  the  town,"  "  the  neighborhood  on  the  east 
side  of  the  ring  of  the  town,"  21  weeks;  "Palmer's 
River,"  14  weeks;  "  Watchomoquet  Neck,"  13  weeks; 
Capt.  Enoch  Hunt's  neighborhood  and  "  the  mile  and  a 
half,"  9  weeks. 

In  the  old  school  house,  with  its  fire  place  at  one  end, 
and  the  master's  desk  at  the  other,  flanked  on  either  side 
by  the  slab  benches  without  backs,  with  the  roguish  boys 
on  one  side  of  the  room  casting  more  than  sheep's  eyes  at 
the  red-cheeked  girls  on  the  other,  were  raised  the  youths 
who  were  preparing  to  be  tithing  men,  fence  viewers,  hog 
reeves,  town  clerks,  surveyors,  selectmen,  grand  jury 
men,  constables,  sheriffs,  deputies  to  the  Great  and  Gen- 
eral Court,  and  some  even  had  the  ambition  to  become 
school-masters  in  town  to  get  late  vengeance  on  the  injus- 
tice of  their  own  masters. 

But  while  it  would  be  most  gratifying  to  dwell  on  these 
and  other  agencies  and  influences  which  have  made  the 
old  towns  of  New  England  famous  in  America,  yea,  the 
world's  history,  more  practical  lessons  are  before  us  in  the 
work  to  which  this  Hall  and  its  associate  rooms  are  to  be 
devoted,  and  the  work  to  which  New  Rehoboth  is  to  give 
itself ;  for  turning  from  the  past,  we  find  ourselves  in  an 
age  of  marvellous  progress,  an  era  whose  watchword  is 
co-operation  ;  its  emblems  are  the  steam  engine  and  the 
telegraph.  The  old  word  and  work  were  independency  ; 


C*  I1JSTOEIC  K 

the  new  one  is  association.  The  individual  and  individ- 
ualism were  the  product  of  the  first  two  centuries  of  our 
history.  Socialism  in  its  best  sense,  combination,  organi- 
zation, capital,  leadership  are  the 'objectives  towards  which 
men  and  events  are  now  moving.  The  individual  is  lost 
in  the  complex  and  dense  movements  of  the  great  organ- 
ism we  call  society,  the  municipality,  the  state.  We  are 
rapidly  changing  from  the  state  of  Democracy  to  that  of 
Bureaucracy.  There  is  a  great  danger  in  this  tendency 
to  sink  the  individual  in  the  mass,  to  make  of  society  a 
vast  machine,  which  shall  crush  out  the  life  forces  from 
man  and  manhood.  Instead  of  the  town,  has  grown  up 
the  city;  in  place  of  the  plain,  simple  ways  of  rural  life, 
which  tide  men  safely  through  the  three-score  years  and 
ten  of  the  Psalmist,  we  have  the  ambitious,  rush  and 
drive  and  nervous  strain  of  these  days,  which  compel  men 
to  retire  from  business  at  fifty,  it  may  be  rich  in  pocket, 
but  bankrupt  in  heart  and  all  vital  energies,  unfitted  foi 
the  enjoyment  of  rapidly  earned  gains.  Now  it  is  not 
becoming  in  me  to  criticise  or  condemn  these  modern 
fashions  which  apply  to  the  life  of  the  social,  moral  and 
religious  world,  as  well  as  to  the  world  of  business  affairs, 
but  I  would  call  attention  to  the  needs  of  a  more  conser- 
vative, a  better  way  in  some  respects,  which  shall  redound 
to  the  good  of  the  New  England  town  and  town  life, 
which  we  see  so  rapidly  absorbed  in  that  of  the  city. 

I  have  come  with  a  message  to  this  good  old  corpora- 
tion of  Rehoboth,  and  to  all  others  that  may  care  to  learn 
the  lesson  of  the  times,  to  hold  on  to  the  town,  and  the 
town  organization,  and  all  that  shall  check  this  terrific 
boom  after  wealth,  power  and  centralization.  It  is  a  fact 
of  alarming  significance  that  our  New  England  towns  are 
on  the  wane  in  population  and  wealth,  and  that  this  dimi- 
nution of  forces  in  the  country  is  the  measure  of  their 


HIS  TOEIC  HZ  HOB  0  TIL  65 

increase  in  cities,  and  centres  of  trade  and  power.      The 
question    arises,  how   long   must  this  continue  ?     When 
shall  we  begin  to  build  again  the  waste  places,  and  restore 
the  vitality  which  has  been  drained  into  other  and  remote 
channels  ?    Having  come  from  the  quarter  millennial  cele- 
brations of  two  of  the  oldest  towns  of  the  Commonwealth, 
the  one  an   inland  town  twenty-five  miles  from  Boston 
—  old  Concord  of  Revolutionary  and  other  fame  —  and  the 
other,  a  town  on  the  Atlantic — old  Hingham  —  both  of 
the  Bay  Colony,  I  wish  to  make  some  observations  as  to 
the  perpetuation  of  the  integrity  and  progress  of  these 
other  sister  municipalities.      Both   these  towns  are  now 
prosperous,  increasing  by  a  small  per  cent,  annually  in 
population,  and  both  are  the  homes  of  a  happy  and  con- 
tented people,  proud  of  their  town  histories  and  jealous  of 
their  rights  and  privileges.     Wealth  is  flowing  back  from 
the  cities  to  beautify  and  adorn  the  home  in  these  country 
towns  ;  lovely  residences  in  modern  style  abound,  and  all 
the  advantages  of  our  best  home,  social,  civil  and  religious 
life  exist.     Both  have  produced  men  of  whom  the  towns 
and    the   Commonwealth    are    proud,  and  these  have  re- 
turned to  testify  to  their  allegiance  to  the  grand  training 
which  the  town  public  school,  church,  town  meeting  and 
other  institutions  have  afforded    them.      Let  us  in  the 
moments  that  remain  look  at  some  of  the  elements  that 
will   enter  into  the  model   town  of    1900,  for  if  we  are  to 
find  such  in  any  part  of  Christendom  we  must  look  for 
them  on  the  foundations  where  the  best  civilization  has 
found  its  supports  and  its  best  conditions  of  up-building. 
The  first  thing  needed  in  the  reconstruction  of  our  old 
towns   is  to  place  them  abreast  of  their  neighbors  in  all 
the   educative    and    refining    influences    which    modern 
society  has  to  furnish.    When  people  are  seeking  a  home, 
nowadays,  the  first  question  raised  relates  to  the  character 


(56 

of  the  people  in  the  community,  the  second  as  to  the 
schools  and  churches.  Now  the  facilities  for  a  good  edu- 
cation are  not  confined  to  our  cities  or  larger  communi- 
ties. The  best  education  may  be  and  often  is  obtainable 
in  our  country  towns.  Our  very  best  colleges  and  semi- 
naries are  in  what  may  be  styled  provincial  communities. 
Norton,  Wellesly,  Amherst,  Williamstown,  South  Hadley, 
Hanover,  Middlebury,  Andover,  Wilbraham,  Easthampton, 
East  Greenwich,  and  other  educational  centres,  are  pro- 
vincial towns,  chiefly  known  to  the  world  through  the 
schools  and  colleges  planted  in  their  midst.  Their  quiet 
and  retired  situations  have  been  found  most  favorable  to 
study,  and  around  the  schools  families  have  made  homes 
for  the  education  of  their  children, 

Now  New  Rehoboth  must  learn  the  lesson  so  clearly 
taught  by  so  many  hundreds  of  our  communities,  and 
though  she  may  not  have  a  famed  school  or  college,  she 
may  have  as  good  a  high  school  with  as  thorough  a  course 
of  study  as  any  other  town  in  Massachusetts.  My  own 
experience  here  in  your  midst  enables  me  to  state,  with- 
out fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  talent,  the  scholarly 
ability,  are  here,  and  all  that  you  need  is  the  able  teacher 
installed  in  your  new  high  school,  dedicated  to-day,  to 
draw  from  these  homes,  far  and  near,  the  bright  boys  and 
girls  who  are  hungry  for  a  better  education  than  the 
common  school  affords,  and  who  had  better  for  various 
reasons  obtain  it  at  home  than  spend  time  and  money  at 
boarding-schools  away  from  home.  I  have  spoken  of  the 
high  school  first,  for  it  is  really  the  foundation  of  good 
elementary  schools.  You  should  by  all  means  have  first 
class  common  schools,  and  the  good  school  should  always 
give  way  to  the  better,  the  better  to  the  best,  and  the  last 
is  the  foe  of  all  others.  From  primary  education  through 
the  high  school,  Rehoboth  may  give  her  children  as  good, 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  67 

and  even  a  better  education  than  Boston,  for  here  the 
opportunities  for  learning  so  much  of  nature,  of  natural 
sciences,  of  Yankee  ingenuity,  of  robust  and  healthy 
character,  are  beyond  compare  with  the  mechanical,  excit- 
ing and  over-stimulating  influences  thrown  about  boyhood 
and  girlhood  in  our  cities.  Given  a  hundred  healthy 
children  at  five  years  of  age,  fifty  of  them  to  be  brought 
up  and  educated  in  the  city,  and  the^  other  fifty  to  be 
brought  up  and  educated  in  the  country,  and  the  product 
in  industrious,  honest  citizens  will  be  two  to  one  in  favor 
of  the  country-bred  child. 

Among  other  educational  agencies  which  are  helpful 
in  creating  and  fostering  intelligence  in  a  community,  are 
the  lecture  and  the  debating  club,  both  of  which  have  been 
the  means  of  developing  some  of  the  finest  minds  of  our 
state  and  country.  The  lecture  platform  is  now  one  of 
the  most  instructive  and  popular  of  the  people's  schools, 
and  at  a  small  cost,  by  the  aid  of  the  stereopticon  and 
other  means  of  illustration,  the  ends  of  the  earth  may  be 
brought  to  the  acquaintance  of  all  the  dwellers  of  our  most 
isolated  inland  towns.  For  a  few  hundred  dollars,  courses 
of  lectures  can  be  established  for  the  instruction  and  en- 
tertainment of  old  and  young,  which  would  be  of  equal 
value  to  the  more  famous  courses  of  New  York,  Boston 
and  Providence,  and  these  make  the  people  content  with 
their  own  intellectual  environment. 

Of  the  well  managed  debating  club,  I  cannot  speak  in 
too  high  praise.  As  a  spur  to  study  and  research,  and  a 
means  of  personal  culture,  it  has  not  its  equal,  and  in  the 
development  of  individual  talent  and  the  acquisition  of 
mental  power,  it  is  a  powerful  auxiliary.  Here  men  may 
measure  themselves  one  with  another,  and  the  man  of 
mental  power  is  readily  measured  by  the  standard  of  a 
more  shallow  pretender.  In  such  schools,  N.  P,  Banks, 


fi8  HISTORIC  RE  HO  BOTH. 

Henry  Wilson,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
Senator  Hoar,  John  D.  Long,  Gov.  Robinson  and  hun- 
dreds of  others,  of  state  and  national  fame,  took  their  first 
lessons  and  received  their  first  encouragement  to  make 
the  most  of  life  and  its  opportunities.  One  of  the  valuable 
results  of  well  arranged  courses  of  public  lectures  is  the 
instruction  of  the  people  on  social  and  economic  questions, 
concerning  which  there  is  such  wide  divergence  of  popu- 
lar views  and  consequent  misapprehension,  distrust  and 
conflict,  not  only  of  opinion,  but  of  action,  as  are  now  so 
remarkably  displayed  in  all  parts  of  our  land  and  the 
world.  The  war  now  waging  in  so  many  places  between 
capital  and  labor  is  as  unnatural  and  as  cruel  as  the  civil  - 
war  of  1861-65.  It  is  equally  unreasonable  and  unneces- 
sary, and  would  not  have  been  precipitated,  to  the  great 
loss  of  the  wage-earners  and  the  destruction  of  the  very 
capital  that  encourages  and  sustains  labor,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  ignorance  or  misguidance  of  those  who  are  seeking 
to  be  benefited  by  strikes,  boycotts  and  other  labor-saving 
machines,  too  often  engines  of  oppression  in  the  hands  of 
Jehus  as  engineers.  The  press,  the  platform  and  the  pulpit 
must  in  such  times  be  honest,  earnest  and  outspoken  in 
their  voices  of  intelligent  instruction  for  the  people  ;  must 
be  calm  and  dispassionate,  that  they  may  allay  the  excite- 
ments and  passions  of  men,  and  must  educate  the  people 
into  the  true  philosophy  of  labor,  and  help  men  to  solve 
the  problems  which  beset  their  daily  lives. 

And  here,  also,  the  public  library  enters  as  a  factor  to 
mould  public  opinion  and  direct  to  wisest  forms  of  action. 
History  is  at  hand,  with  her  lessons  from  all  the  past,  to  in- 
struct the  seeker  after  truth.  '  Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with 
the  experiences  of  men  and  nations,  and  if  we  would  avoid 
their  faults  and  follies,  we  must  enquire  concerning  their 
causes  and  their  consequences.  Biography  lends  us  wonder- 


HISTORIC  BEHOBOTB.  r,9 

ful  assistance  in  showing  how  the  great  men  of  the  world 
acquired  greatness ;  the  wise,  wisdom ;  the  strong,  strength ; 
the  virtuous,  virtue ;  and  the  pure  in  heart,  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  Philosophy  becomes  a  light  to  our  path.  By  her 
guidance  we  may  sit  at  the  feet  of  Plato  in  the  Academy, 
and  walk  with  Aristotle  under  the  olives.  Bacon  reveals 
to  us  his  inductive  methods,  Franklin  chains  the  lightning 
for  our  use,  Spencer  explains  to  us  the  movements  of  our 
inner  thoughts,  and  Darwin  and  Agassiz  tell  us  of  the 
grand  laws  which  govern  all  development  in  the  natural 
world  around  us,  leading  up  to  the  spiritual  world  above 
us.  Science  unfolds  the  structure  of  the  atoms  in  the 
sunbeam  and  resolves  star  dust  into  suns  and  systems. 
Fiction  shows  us  the  semblance  of  real  life  and  in  this 
mirror,  as  face  answers  to  face  in  water,  so  the  human 
heart  is  made  an  object  lesson  to  teach  the  passions,  the 
purposes  and  the  resultants  of  living.  Poetry,  the  hand- 
maid of  fiction,  and  the  companion  of  Art,  gives  us  songs 
in  the  night  of  our  sorrows,  comfort  in  the  evening  hour 
of  trials,  cheer  and  strength  in  the  mid-day  heat  and  toil, 
and  a  sunrise  glow  of  hope  and  promise  to  the  opening 
life  of  man.  Would  you  know  men,  study  books  ;  would 
you  know  books,  study  men.  Each  study  is  the  comple- 
ment of  the  other.  Would  you  find  solace,  without 
satiety,  find  it  in  the  pages  of  a  good  book;  do  you  seek 
a  real  friendship  with  a  friend  always  faithful  and  at  your 
service,  it  is  found  in  the  silent  communion  of  kindred 
souls  in  literature. 

This  library  which  you  have  opened  may  be  made  a 
mine  of  wealth  to  this  community,  and  the  youth  of  the 
town  should  learn  early  to  find  within  it  the  precious  ore. 
The  catalogue  of  your  shelves  shows  how  widely  the 
trustees  have  made  their  selections  from  the  multitude  of 
good  books  of  the  day,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  nucleus 


TO  HISTORIC  EEIIOBOTll. 

already  formed  will  gather  to  itself  from  time  to  time  new 
additions,  so  that  from  this  beginning  you  shall  have  a 
large  storehouse  from  which  the  people  of  Rehoboth  shall 
draw  in  all  the  future  years. 

Old  New  England  was  an  agricultural  section  and  the 
farm  was  the  place  where  centred  hope,  health,  happiness. 
To-day  New  England  is  a  workship,  a  storehouse,  and  the 
exodus  is  so  strong  towards  the  cities  that  the  babies  in 
the  cradle  show  an  unwonted  restlessness  to  be  clad  in 
hat  and  boots  and  be  off  for  the  town.  This  mania  is 
encouraged  by  the  early  education  of  the  child  and  the 
conditions  which  surround  him.  The  home,  it  may  be, 
into  which  he  is  born  is  unattractive,  and  its  surroundings 
contain  no  element  of  beauty.  He  finds  no  attractions  at 
the  village,  no  good  schools,  no  library,  no  social  life 
which  interests  him.  He  goes  to  the  city  and  his  eye  and 
mind  are  at  once  drawn  to  the  many  objects  which  attract 
and  hold  the  youthful  attention.  On  his  return  the  dull, 
hard  routine  of  farm  life  becomes  almost  hateful  to  him, 
and  he  longs  for  the  day  when  he  will  be  old  enough  to 
leave  the  parental  roof  for  the  more  seductive  outward 
charms  of  the  city.  Elegant  houses,  gay  equipages,  fine 
dresses,  the  many  prizes  of  a  mercantile  life,  allure  and 
entice  the  youth  from  the  quiet  country  life  to  the  noise 
and  excitement  of  the  city.  In  the  great  lottery  of  busi- 
ness, trade,  exchange,  the  lad  sees  only  the  one  success- 
ful winner  of  the  prize,  and  not  the  ninety  and  nine  who 
draw  the  blanks  or  something  worse.  We  are  fast  coming 
upon  a  time,  however,  when  this  wholesale  departure  from 
the  good  old  ways  of  the  grandfathers  will  be  checked  by 
a  new  departure,  taken  in  returning  to  the  safer  but  more 
conservative  pursuits  of  rural  life,  where  every  man  is  an 
independent  freeman,  earning  while  producing,  saving  his 
honest  earnings  against  the  rainy  days  of  life,  and.  never 


ttlSTO&IC  tiEHOBOTB.  7i 

puzzling  his  brain  over  the  speculative  manipulations  of 
the  stock  market.  During  a  conversation  the  other  day 
with  a  gentleman  who  has  attained  moderate  success  in 
business  in  Boston,  and  who  has  figured  heavily  in  Dem- 
ocratic politics,  I  asked  the  question,  how  he  regarded 
city  life  as  compared  with  that  of  the  country  ?  His  reply 
was  significant:  "The  great  mistake  of  my  life  was  in 
leaving  the  old  farm  —  my  boyhood's  home  —  and  I  am 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  I  shall  return  to  it." 

Now  in  our  model  town  of  the  future  the  boys  and  girls, 
the  brightest  and  handsomest  of  them  at  least,  are  to  stay 
at  home  and  care  for  the  varied  interests  which  are  to 
grow  up  and  flourish  by  their  enterprise  and  industry^ 
Labor-saving  machines  have  taken  the  hard  drudgery 
from  all  forms  of  manual  toil.  Farming,  gardening,  the 
culture  of  small  fruits,  silk  culture,  dairies,  the  making  of 
honey,  fine  needle  work,  painting,  flower  culture,  wood 
carving,  the  manufacture  of  jewelry,  and  all  forms  of  orna- 
ment suitable  for  woman's  labor  —  these  and  a  multitude  of 
other  occupations  will  engage  the  attention  and  employ 
the  skilled  labor  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  year  1900. 
As  a  foretaste  of  the  good  time  coming  when  woman's 
labor  shall  be  found  in  the  healthful  occupation  of  our  out 
door  life  of  New  England,  in  a  climate  unexcelled  for 
health  and  rigor  the  wide  world  ovej,  I  may  refer  to  the 
fact  that  women  are  now  successfully  cultivating  the 
orange  in  Florida,  the  grape  and  the  silkworm  in  Cali- 
fornia, small  fruits  in  the  Central  West,  and  managing  suc- 
cessful cattle  ranches  in  Montana.  In  the  Rehoboth  that 
is  to  be,  under  the  influences  of  Farmers'  Clubs,  Rural 
Improvement  Associations,  and  individual  and  town  cor- 
porations, we  are  to  have  well  cultivated  farms,  the  old 
forests  well  protected,  excellent  and  well  shaded  roads, 
beautiful  groves,  lowlands  well  drained,  Palmer's  River 


72  HISTORIC  REHOBOTH. 

and  your  ponds  stocked  with  fish,  meadows  yielding  three 
tons  of  good  timothy  to  the  acre,  and  blooded  cattle  graz- 
ing over  these  hilly  pastures.  Fruits  and  flowers  will  be 
found  in  abundance  at  every  home,  and  each  family  shall 
sit  under  its  own  vine  and  elm  tree.  Arbor  Day  will  be 
celebrated  annually,  and  Art  will  come  to  Nature's  aid  in 
beautifying  this  varied  landscape.  The  churches  and 
schools  will  be  made  as  attractive  as  the  most  delightful 
homes,  and  the  cities  of  the  dead  shall  waken  with  a  new 
life,  when,  on  some  beautiful  Easter  morning,  the  lily  and 
the  rose-  — types  of  the  resurrection  —  shall  be  found  at 
every  resting  place,  a  tribute  of  love,  and  the  witness  of 
immortality. 

I  have  said  that  the  vaiious  departments  of  service 
represented  in  this  beautiful  and  useful  edifice  relate  to 
all  the  needs  of  the  complex  life  of  man.  Your  school 
and  library  look  toward  the  future  of  this  town.  The  fine 
hall  in  which  we  are  assembled  represents  the  historic 
present,  as  it  stands  before  us  in  the  transactions  of  men 
and  society  ;  while  your  Historic  Society  lives  in  the  past, 
and  with  its  eye  backward,  its  index  finger  points  forward. 

In  the  rambling  review  of  this  address,  I  have  en- 
deavored to  show  in  briefest  outline,  some  of  the  agencies 
that  have  built  up  and  sustained  this  municipality.  The 
worthy  lives  of  the  men  of  earlier  times  are  our  rich 
legacy,  and  through  their  toils  and  sacrifices  we  enjoy 
priceless  privileges.  To  the  study  and  preservation  of 
all  that  was  true,  noble  and  of  good  report,  it  becomes 
you,  people  of  Rehoboth  of  to-day,  to  devote  yourselves. 
Would  you  do  better  than  the  fathers,  you  must  know  how 
well  they  acted.  Would  you  be  wiser,  purer,  freer,  you 
must  come  into  the  measure  of  their  wisdom,  purity,  free- 
dom and  justice.  The  house  the  fathers  built  must  not  be 
torn  down  until  a  better  edifice  shall  stand  in  its  place, 


HISTORIC  J1EIIOJ1OTH.  73 

and  he  is  the  wise  architect,  who  in  the  midst  of  changing 
styles,  builds  after  the  pattern  of  the  things  made  in  the 
heavens.  It  is  true  that  our  times  demand  new  measures 
and  new  men,  and  while  we  "  let  the  dead  past  bury  its 
dead,"  we  must  "act  in  the  living  present,  heart  within 
and  God  overhead." 

New  Rehoboth,  with  its  Goff  Memorial  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  nobler  present  and  a  better  future,  must 
bestir  herself  in  these  matters  which  shall  make  for  her 
progress  and  her  prosperity.  The  school  and  the  church 
must  be  magnified  in.  their  work  of  saving  men  and  society. 
The  only  conservative  forces  in  society  are  intelligence 
and  religion.  He  who  loves  God  and  his  fellow  will  neither 
strike  nor  be  struck,  and  the  millennium  is  at  hand  where- 
ever  and  whenever  a  Christian  education  gets  possession 
of  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men. 

Let  this  Memorial,  erected  to  the  memory  of  sainted 
men  and  holy  women,  be  a  reminder  of  their  virtues  and 
an  inspiration  to  higher  attainments.  Let  youth  come  up 
here  to  prepare  for  the  warfare  of  life.  In  this  armory 
shall  be  found  a  shield  more  wonderful  than  that  of  Achil- 
les ;  a  sword  better  tempered  than  the  blade  of  Damascus; 
and  a  panoply  lighter  than  that  of  Knight  or  Crusader. 
With  a  noble  past  to  inspire  you,  a  living  present  that 
demands  serious  thought  and  progressive  action,  and  a 
future  that  beckons  to  grander  duties  as  individuals  and 
as  a  people,  you  will,  if  faithful,  realize  the  beautiful  picture 
of  the  Psalmist  : 

When  our  sons  shall  he  as  plants  grown  up  in  their  youth, 
And  our  daughters  as  corner  stones  hewn  after  the  fashion  of  a  palace; 
w  lien  our  garners  are  full,  affording  all  manner  of  store, 
And  our  sheep  bring  forth  thousands  and  ten  thousands  in  our  fields 
When  our  oxen  are  well  laden, 

When  there  is  no  hroaking  in  and  no  going  forth,  and  no  outcry  in  our 
streets, 

Happy  is  the  people  that  is  in  such  a  case, 
Yea,  happy  is  the  people  whose  God  is  the  Lord. 


n  HISTORIC  JIEHOHOT1T. 

Rev.  Alexander  Macgregor,  of  Pawtucket,  offered  an 
eloquent  Prayer  of  Dedication,  followed  by  the  song  "  Oh 
Restless  Sea,"  by  the  quartette.  Dr.  E.  G.  Robinson, 
President  of  Brown  University,  was  next  introduced,  and 
spoke  as  follows  : 

ADDRESS  BY  REV.  E.  G.  ROBINSON,  D.  D. 

It  must  seem  inexcusable,  almost  impertinent,  for  one 
to  venture  upon  even  few  words  at  this  late  hour,  and 
after  the  full  and  careful  address  which  we  have  had  so 
much  pleasure  in  listening  to.  Two  reasons,  however, 
•induced  me  to  except  the  very  cordial  invitation  to  be 
here  to-day,  and  I  do  not  feel  quite  at  liberty  to  decline 
the  earnest  request  to  add  a  few  words,  though  unpre- 
meditated, to  what  has  already  been  said.  My  first  reason 
for  coming  was  that  I  wished  to  drive  along  the  roads  and 
look  on  the  fields  and  streams  of  the  old  town  that  was 
the  home  of  my  ancestors.  George  Robinson,  one  of  the 
men  of  Rehoboth  who  made  the  North  Purchase,  as  it 
was  called,  from  the  Indians,  a  territory  including  my 
native  town  —  Attleborough  —  was  my  great-great-grand- 
father, and  in  the  old  First  Congregational  church  of 
Attleborough,  the  one  of  his  sons  who  was  my  grand- 
father, as  well  as  his  sons,  including  my  father,  were 
accustomed  to  worship  and  to  receive  their  religious  in- 
struction. 

Another  reason  for  my  being  here  has  been  a  desire  to 
show  appreciation  of  the  generous  gift  of  our  friend  in 
the  erection  of  this  memorial  building ;  to  recognize  one 
of  the  noblest  uses  to  which  wealth  can  be  donated  —  the 
increase  of  means  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  —  a 
knowledge  of  what  is  and  of  what  has  been.  Honor  to 
him  whose  memory  this  building  will  so  worthily  per- 


HISTORIC  SEHOBOTH.  75 

petuate,  and  to  all  who  have  joined  in  contributing  to 
make  the  building  so  fitting  a  source  and  centre  of 
knowledge  and  intellectual  quickening  for  the  town.  By 
no  means  least  among  the  good  ends  which  the  building 
will  subserve  will  be  its  antiquarian  and  historical  uses. 
Nothing  of  the  present  can  be  fully  understood  and  appre- 
ciated without  knowing  the  past  out  of  which  it  has 
sprung.  If  the  Rehoboth  of  to-day  would  understand 
itself  it  must  remember  the  Rehoboth  of  the  earlier  days, 
And  it  will  be  here  that  the  relics  of  past  days  will  be 
preserved  and  may  be  studied  when  they  shall  elsewhere 
have  vanished. 

And  it  is  none  too  soon  that  relics  of  the  past  have 
began  to  be  gathered  here  for  preservation.  Dropping  out 
of  use  and  uncared  for  they  would  speedily  be  forgotten 
forever.  And  there  are  later  memories  in  some  of  the 
aged  heads  here  to-day  that,  unless  soon  garnered,  will  be 
irrecoverably  lost.  Where,  outside  of  New  England,  in 
all  our  country,  can  you  find  so  many  men  among  the 
same  number  of  people,  whose  years  are  touching  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century,  as  are  here  assembled  ?  They  could 
tell  of  experiences  strange  but  useful  to  youthful  ears 
— experiences  that  would  help  to  a  better  appreciation  of 
what  now  is  as  well  as  of  what  is  to  come.  But  far  behind 
the  memories  of  all  living  men  lie  our  richest  fields  of 
inquiry.  Implements  of  industry  and  of  household  econo- 
mies speak  to  us  of  toils  and  of  endurance  to  which  we 
are  strangers;  but  they  were  toils,  that  bred  men  and 
women  of  heroic  mould  — an  ancestry  of  whom  we  never 
need  be  ashamed. 

And  additional  to  what  will  here  speak  of  the  past  to 
the  eye,  there  are  less  conspicious  relics  that  ought  in 
lectures  here  to  be  pointed  out  to  the  ear.  Brown  bread, 
pork  and  beans,  pumpkin  pie  and  fish  balls  speak  dis- 


76  HISTORIC  REUOBOTll. 

tinctly  of  the  plain  living  and  hard  working  of  the  fathers, 
but  subtler  elements  remain  to  be  recognized.  Traces  of 
Puritan  dialect  still  linger  in  our  daily  speech.  Phrases 
are  common  on  the  lips  of  our  farmers  that  have  come 
down  to  us  from  the  first  settlers  of  Rehoboth  and  Attle- 
borough.  The  phrase  "  English  hay  "  that  distingushes 
the  hay  grown  on  the  upland  from  that  of  the  natural 
grass  that  grows  on  the  wet  meadows  or  swales  ;  what  a 
light  is  thrown  back  by  it  on  the  beginnings  of  New 
England  life  !  The  only  hay  the  first  settlers  had  on  which 
to  carry  their  half-starved  cattle  and  horses  through  the 
winter  was  that  of  the  native  grasses  of  the  low  meadows. 
Readers  of  Mr.  Bliss's  History  of  Rehoboth,  and  of  John* 
Daggett's  sketches  of  the  History  of  Attleborough,  will 
remember  the  jealous  care  with  which  these  meadows 
were  divided  and  distributed  among  the  original  settlers 
of  both  towns.  Imported  seed  from  England  gave  them 
in  due  time  a  sweeter  hay  from  grasses  grown  on  culti- 
vated fields,  and  from  that  time  on  all  cultivated  hay  from 
upland  fields  has  been  known  as  English  hay.  And  so, 
could  we  go  back  to  the  earlier  days,  we  should  find  in 
them  the  origin  of  many  a  social  custom  and  form  of 
speech  now  prevailing  in  the  rural  parts  of  Rehoboth  and 
Attleborough,  and  Seekonk  and  other  towns,  to  which 
the  earlier  Rehoboth  gave  birth. 

But  this  building  looks  to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the 
past.  It  is  not  only  memorial  but  educational.  The  gen- 
tleman who  has  addressed  us  is  interested  in  education. 
We  all  are.  It  is  to  educational  ends  that  this  building  is 
chiefly  to  be  devoted.  The  generations  to  come  are  here 
to  be  helped  to  outstrip  their  fathers  that  have  lived  in 
these  neighboring  homes.  And  all  this  is  good  ground 
for  our  rejoicing.  But  in  all  education,  even  in  the  high- 
est and  broadest,  no  lessons  under  heaven  should  be  more 


HISTORIC  HE  HO  BOTH.  77 

earnestly  and  continuously  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the 
young  than  those  of  personal  integrity  and  honest  indus- 
try. Next  to  what  we  owe  to  God  stands  what  we  owe 
to  society —  the  duty  of  honestly  earning  one's  own  living 
and  sustaining  the  state,  of  contributing  something  to  the 
possessions  of  mankind  a'nd  to  the  common  weal.  If 
the  schooling  that  shall  be  given  within  these  walls  shall 
but  teach  the  young  men  of  Rehoboth  the  folly  of  forsak- 
fng  the  conntry  for  the  city  and  crowded  towns,  of  aban- 
doning the  tillage  of  the  soil  for  trade  and  the  counting- 
room,  shall  teach  them  by  skillful  tillage  to  bring  these 
surrounding  fields  into  the  productiveness  of  which  they 
are  capable,  then  a  service  will  have  been  rendered  for 
which  all  wise  citizens  and  good  men  will  rejoice  and  give 
thanks. 

But  I  must  cease.  With  congratulations  to  our  friend, 
whose  name  this  building  is  to  bear,  on  the  successful 
completion  of  his  purpose,  and  to  all  who  have  aided  in 
its  completion,  my  earnest  hope  is  that  boundlessly  more 
than  the  most  sanguine  have  anticipated  shall  flow  out  in 
future  years  from  this  memorial  structure. 

ADDRESS   BY   REV.   JEREMIAH    TAYLOR,  D.  D.,  OF 
PROVIDENCE. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  CITIZENS  OF  REHOBOTH: — It  was 
said  of  a  distinguished  English  divine,  of  a  former  genera- 
tion, that  he  was  a  very  unfair  preacher,  inasmuch  as  he 
left  nothing  to  be  said  by  another  when  he  had  completed 
his  discourse.  The  orator  of  the  day  has  rendered  him- 
self open  to  a  like  charge  by  the  fulness  and  completeness 
with  which  he  has  covered  the  ground  open  to  review  on 
this  interesting  occasion.  We  are  all  impressed  that  this 
is  a  stirring,  proud  day  for  this  old  town,  which  is  wont 


78  HISTORIC  REHOBOTH. 

to  be  in  such  quiet  rest  and  cheerful  repose  in  the  lap  of 
its  richly  cultivated  farms  and  contented  homes.  That  you 
have  this  building  to  dedicate,  and  that  you  are  here  on 
this  auspicious  occassion  for  so  suggestive  and  inspiring  a 
service,  is  one  of  the  best  things  Jthat  has  occurred  here  of 
recent  years. 

It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  seventy-seven 
years  ago  there  was  born  on  this  spot  a  child,  who  to-day 
has  come  up  hither  in  perfected  manhood,  with  his  noble 
benefaction  already  conferred,  while  the  benediction  of  his 
presence  offers  such  additional  pleasure.  I  am  prepared 
to  congratulate  him,  I  can  almost  say  envy  him,  for  what 
he  has  found  purpose  and  means  to  do,  in  connection  with 
others,  for  his  native  town.  If,  according  to  the  adage  of 
the  ancients,  it  be  sweet  and  honorable  to  die  for  one's 
country,  it  certainly  ought  to  be  no  less  pleasant  and 
honorable  for  a  man  while  living  to  do  something  to 
beautify  and  enrich  in  things  most  excellect,  for  all  time, 
that  particular  section  in  his  country  which  cradled  him 
in  infancy  and  imparted  to  him  these  vital  forces  which  so 
materially  aided  in  creating  the  manhood  of  later  years. 
How  much  subsequent  life  depends  upon  the  birthplace. 
The  physical,  moral,  intellectual,  are  all  toned  by  the 
atmosphere  of  the  place.  Mountains,  valleys,  streams  of 
water,  trees,  flowers,  birds,  houses,  churches,  are  constant 
and  efficient  teachers.  A  person  would  be  insensible  to 
the  most  important  surroundings  of  his  being  who  had  no 
love  for  his  native  town.  Surely,  if  Mr.  Goff  had  been 
born  any  where  else  than  just  here,  he  would  not  have 
been  the  man  among  us  that  he  is  to-day. 

Nothinsr  more  beautifully  reveals  the  spirit  of  Lamar- 
tine,  the  French  statesman  and  poet,  than  the  story  he 
tells  of  his  effort  to  portion  off  and  sell  his  paternal  estate, 
at  Milly,  when  under  the  hard  pressure  of  poverty.  His 


19 

tender  associating  was  so  inwrought  with  every  foot  and 
yard  that  he  rather  suffer  from  want  than  to  see  the  same 
domain  in  the  keeping  of  strangeis.  A  sacred  sentiment 
might  not  be  exchanged  for  gold.  The  town,  in  our  New 
England,  has  had  such  a  formative  influence,  in  connec- 
tion with  all  that  is  most  excellent  in  the  state  and  national 
government,  that  it  is  only  a  just  recognition  of  such  in- 
fluences that  prompts  us  to  do  what  we  can  to  perpetuate 
the  institutions  of  the  town. 

Happy,  indeed,  ought  the  man  to  esteem  himself,  who 
aimed  the  decadence  in  the  older  portions  of  our  country, 
is  enabled  to  do  something  for  his  native  town,  which 
will  serve  to  perpetuate  her  industries,  maintain  a  spirit 
of  such  enterprise  among  the  young  men  as  will  hold 
them  to  the  farm,  sufficiently,  at  least,  to  preserve  the 
blessings,  beauties,  and  thrift  of  the  past,  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, down  through  succeeding  ages.  The  decay  of  home- 
steads which  cluster  around  the  country  villages,  always 
offers  a  scene  of  sadness.  Under  the  hand  of  a  master 
genius  Sweet  Auburn,  the  deserted  village  of  Gold- 
smith, made  a  beautiful  poem  but  a  gloomy  picture.  It 
is  well,  it  is  well,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Goff  has  so  nobly 
met  the  claims  of  nativity  ;  that  his  birthplace  is  crowned 
with  a  Memorial  Hall.  Here  with  the  antiquarian  room, 
which  will  always  offer  object  lessons  to  teach  this  and 
the  following  generations  how  wisely  and  well  their  fathers 
planned  and  toiled,  with  so  few  facilities  to  lift  the  burdens 
from  their,  own  shoulders,  will  be  found  the  library  stored 
with  the  best  thoughts  of  all  the  ages,  in  close  proximity 
to  the  school  room,  where  the  young  may  be  taught  and 
trained  for  the  opening  fields  of  usefulness  ;  and  then  the 
spacious  hall,  where  from  time  to  time  the  thoughtful  and 
intelligent  yeomanry  will  assemble  to  discuss  the  vital 
questions  of  the  hour,  ever  ruling  wisely  from  the  forum, 


80  HISTORIC  nr 


however,  such  questions  as  how  many  hours  constitute  a 
day  for  labor  ;  for  what  farmer  does  not  know  that  labor 
in  the  field  requires  all  the  time  from  sun  to  sun,  and  as 
much  more  as  the  twilight  may  yield.  If  other  young 
men,  who  go  away  from  home,  will  follow  the  example 
here  set  and  make  their  individual  profit  a  gain  to  the 
town  in  the  end,  they  may  depart  ;  otherwise  let  them 
stay  by  the  old  acres  and  make  them  rich  and  fruitful. 

Personally,  I  have  an  interest  in  this  occasion  that  does 
not  appear  on  the  surface. 

In  1800  Rev.  Otis  Thompson  was  settled  here  as  pastor. 
Three  years  later  the  Rhode  Island  Home  Missionarv 
Society  was  formed  in  Newport.  Of  this  Society  I  have 
been  Secretary  for  the  past  ten  years.  Mr.  Thompson 
was  one  of  the  early  friends  and  patrons  of  the  Society. 
The  counsel  and  aid  so  timely  bestowed  by  him  may  well 
be  remembered,  as  we  note  the  ever  widening  work  which 
this  agency  has  accomplished.  Mr.  Thompson  had  an 
accomplished  daughter  ;  he  had  several,  as  is  well  known, 
but  I  refer  to  Miss  Fidelia.  She  became  the  wife  of  Rev. 
Tyler  Thacher.  Mr.  Thacher  was  the  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Hawley  —  my  native  town-  —  for  several  years.  He 
was  a  man  of  marked  scholarship  and  high  intellectual 
ability,  to  whom  I  owed  many  of  those  better  influences 
which  entered  into  my  forming  manhood.  During  a  college 
vacation  his  neice,  then  on  a  visit  at  the  parsonage,  accom- 
panied him  to  an  evening  prayer  meeting  held  at  my 
mother's  cottage.  An  acquaintance  then  begun  resulted  in 
that  young  lady  becoming  my  wife,  and  who  has  blessed 
me  in  that  relation  for  thirty-seven  years  just  as  much  as 
any  man  needs  to  be  blessed. 

Fidelia  Thompson  Thacher,  when  she  removed  to 
Hawley,  took  with  her  the  first  piano  forte  that  was  ever 
carried  there.  With  her  fine  vocal  and  instrumental  cul- 


HISTORIC  KEIIOP.O'm.  81 

ture  she  gathered  the  young  about  her  and  her  home 
became  the  centre  of  attraction,  and  she  also  kindly  con- 
sented to  take  her  place  in  the  choir  and  lead  in  the  service 
of  song  in  the  sanctury.  She  fell  a  victim  to  consumption 
in  the  bloom  of  years,  passing  away  too  soon,  alas  !  for 
those  who  so  tenderly  loved  and  relied  upon  her,  but,  as 
the  sequel  proved,  none  too  soon  to  save  her  motherly 
affection  from  the  sore  bereavement  which  awaited  her 
household,  as  one  after  another  her  three  sons  came  to  an 
untimely  death  by  drowning,  sunstroke  and  the  bludgeon 
of  an  Indian.  How  often  in  later  years,  when  revisiting 
the  scenes  of  my  youth,  has  the  memory  of  this  dear 
friend  been  replete  with  pleasure.  Late  though  it  be, 
Hawley  thanks  Rehoboth  for  giving  them  such  a  pastor's 
wife. 

Some  two  years  ago,  when  tracing  the  early  life  of 
the  late  Amos  D.  Lockwood,  of  such  honored  memory,  it 
was  discovered  that  it  was  in  this  town  that  he  began  his 
business  life  in  the  employ  of  the  firm  of  Peck  &  Wilkin- 
son, and  while  the  healthful  influences  that  surrounded 
him  there  shaped  admirably  his  character  as  a  man,  he 
was  no  less  fortunate  in  being  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Vernon,  who  led  him  tenderly  and  wisely 
to  the  beginning  of  a  Christian  life.  Mr.  Goff,  your  towns- 
man, who  has  the  seat  of  honor  to-day,  I  have  known, 
happily,  for  years,  and  have  sought  his  aid  in  benevolent 
work,  always  with  a  prompt  and  hearty  response. 

Your  pastor,  too,  who  is  so  important  a  factor  in  all 
that  has  been  and  is  in  connection  with  this  day's  trans- 
acting, is  no  stranger  to  me.  Through  his  counsel  and 
benevolent  deeds  my  labors  have  been  lightened  and  my 
pleasure  enhanced.  The  speed  with  which,  in  company 
with  the  honored  President  of  Brown  University,  I  came 
to  this  gathering,  evinces  how  well  he  knows  how  to  help 


82  HISTORIC  REllOBOTll. 

one  on  in  the  world.  Allow  me  to  express  the  thought, 
in  concluding,  that  any  town  which  has  such  a  Memorial 
Hall  as  this,  inscribed  with  the  name  of  a  son  so  worthy, 
and  has  for  a  pastor  such  a  man  as  Rev.  George  H.  Tilton, 
who  knows  so  well  how  to  husband  and  use  all  valuable 
things,  ought  to  regard  itself  as  extremely  fortunate. 
May  your  stream  of  blessings  continue  to  flow  in  all 
affluence. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  CHARLES  A.  REED,  SECRETARY 
OF  THE  OLD  COLONY   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

« 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — A  native  of 
the  ancient  town  of  Weymouth,.  the  first  settlement  in 
Massachusetts,  it  is  with  pleasure  I  address  you  on  this 
historic  occasion,  as  the  representatives  of  Rehoboth,  the 
first  migration  from  that  historic  settlement  of  the  Bay. 
No  town  in  Massachusetts  better  exhibits  the  phases  of 
municipal  history  peculiar  to  a  New  England  town  than 
Rehoboth.  Removed  from  the  new  civilization  based  upon 
organized,  incorporated,  mechanical  industry  —  the  cotton 
mill,  the  railroad,  the  machine  shop,  and  its  counterpart, 
the  political  organization,  the  city —  pursuing  rather  the 
industries  and  customs  which  spring  from  the  farm,  and 
therefore  adhering  to  the  township  traits  of  early  New 
England  life,  it  is  interesting  in  the  light  of  the  history  of 
ancient  Rehoboth  to  consider  the  relation  of  the  town 
government  to  the  State  :  In  the  colonial  period  extending 
from  1645  to  1691  ;  in  the  provincial  period  extending 
from  1691  to  1775  ;  and  in  the  Commonwealth  period  ex- 
tending from  1775  to  the  present  time. 

The  wilderness  of  "  Secunke"  was  first  broken  by  the 
Englishmen,  in  the  person  of  the  eccentric  Blackstone, 
who,  having  abandoned  the  mother  country  to  escape  the 


I1ISTOEIC  EEUOBOTII.  83 

tyranny  of  the  Lord  Bishops,  fled  thither  to  escape  the 
tyranny  of  the  Lord  Brethren  at  Trimountain  (Boston)  in 
the  Bay,  and  afterwards  by  the  contumacious  Roger 
Williams,  whose  last  refuge  from  the  imaginary  enemies 
that  he  unwittingly  stirred  up  by  his  intemperate  theolo- 
gical zeal  was  close  by  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mosshassack, 
where  Providence  now  stands.  Neither  of  these  persons 
contemplated  a  settlement,  a  plantation,  a  town.  Other 
interests  led  to  the  permanent  settlement  of  Seekonk, 
yet  peculiar  to  those  times. 

Two  distinct,  independent  colonies  had  located  here 
—  the  colony  of  New  Plymouth  without  any  territorial 
limits,  an  original  trading  venture,  holding  its  property  in 
common,  without  plantation  designs,  but  permanently 
divorced  from  the  Old  World  by  separatist  principles  and 
imbrued  with  heroic  virtues  —  the  colony  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay  having  territorial  limits  ;  westerly  by  the  South 
Sea,  and  northerly  and  southerly  by  bounds  of  which 
they  knew  at  first  but  little  more,  but  with  potential 
designs  of  fixed  and  permanent  settlement  of  a  marked 
English  type.  Each  by  charter  and  by  treaty  came  early 
to  an  adjustment  of  their  adjacent  boundaries.  The  Gene- 
ral Court  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  June  2d,  1641,  "ordered 
that  Secunke  near  N»w  Providence  should  be  accepted 
under  our  government  if  it  fall  not  in  Plimouth  Patent," 
and  "  Mr.  James  Parker  is  appointed  to  go  to  Plimouth  to 
see  their  patent  and  take  a  coppey  of  it." 

This  James  Parker  was  the  Deputy  from  Weymouth 
and  was  moving  in  the  interest  of  certain  persons  in  Wey- 
mouth and  Hingham,  induced  by  two  other  L>eputies  of 
the  Massachusetts  General  Court  —  Joseph  Peck  and  Ste- 
phen Paine  —  leading  members  of  the  Bare  Cove  planta- 
tion (Hingham.)  At  this  early  day  the  ancient  plantation 
at  Weymouth  suffered  from  three  contending  factions  with 


84  SISTOSIC  11EHOBOTH. 

divers  persons  in  the  adjoining  plantation  of  Hingham  of 
like  sympathies,  and  one  of  those  factions  under  the  vio- 
lent pressure  of  the  other  parties,  and  lacking  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  Government  of  the  Bay,  was  preparing  to 
emigrate  to  this  wilderness.  This  appears  from  the  Ply- 
mouth Records,  6  July,  1641  : 

"Mr.  Parker,  of  Weyinouth,  had  a  view  of  the  patent  ami  that  clause 
in  writing  wch  concerned  the  bound  from  Narragansett  Bay  to  the  utmost 
pts  and  linimits  of  the  country  called  Pockanockett.  In  regard  to  the  Bay 
men  would  have  had  Secquncke  from  us." 

Again  the  trace  of  the  same  movement  appears  in  the 
Record,  2  August,  1642,  Plymouth  Records  : 

"  There  was  a  request  made  by  some  to  sit  down  at  Sickuiickc  of  llin:;- 
ham.  The  names  of  those  are  John  Porter,  Thomas  Lorine,  Stephen 
Payne." 

This  Stephen  Payne  was  the  Deputy  from  Hingham  in 
the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  with  James 
Parker  who  was  pressing  for  the  Weymouth  discontents. 
It  appearing  that  Seekonk  was  within  the  Plymouth 
patent,  the  aid  of  John  Brown,  a  leading  assistant  of  the 
Plymouth  Court,  and  who  had  had  some  differences  as  to 
lands  at  Duxbury,  was  invoked.  John  Brown  had  shown 
his  leaning  toward  the  wilderness  i>y  moving  to  "  Cohan- 
net,"  now  Taunton,  about  1640,  whither  he  afterwards 
moved  to  Wannamoiset,  and  under  his  powerful  encourage- 
ment the  original  planters  of  Reboboth  organized  at 
Weymouth  October  24,  1643,  and  among  their  number 
were  the  minister  of  the  Weymouth  church,  Samuel  New- 
man, and  Joseph  Peck  and  Stephen  Payne,  of  Hingham. 
These  four  persons  —  John  Brown,  Samuel  Newman, 
Joseph  Peck  and  Stephen  Payne  —  are  the  real  originators 
and  founders  of  Rehoboth.  The  original  designation  of 
territory  for  the  new  plantation  of  Seekonk  was  thus  made 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  85 

in  1641  by  John  Brown  and  James  Parker,  being  "  a  tract 
eight  miles  square,"  by  a  purchase  from  Osamequin,  alias 
Massasoit,  in  the  interest  of  the  Weymouth  dissentients, 
but  the  principal  promoters  of  this  new  departure  were 
Stephen  Paine  and  Joseph  Peck,  of  Hingham,  and  subse- 
quent purchases  extended  these  bounds  so  that  it  had 
"  Cohannet  "  (Taunton)  on  the  north,  the  undetermined 
Massachusetts  Colony  line  on  the  west,  and  southerly  and 
easterly  Mount  Hope  and  Narragansett  Bays,  excluding 
the  Indian  occupation  at  Mount  Hope.  The  township 
was  organized  under  the  jurisdiction  of  New  Plymouth  in 
1645,  and  the  political  status  of  the  new  town  was  fixed 
by  the  orders  of  Court  which  ruled  the  Old  Colony. 

Much  learning  has  in  these  later  times  been  expended 
upon  the  Teutonic  origin  of  the  New  England  town.  The 
town  meeting  has  been  styled  "  the  primordial  cell  of  our 
body-politic,"  and  the  town  has  been  declared  in  its  first 
inception  as  an  "independent  incorporated  republic." 
While  we  recognize  the  peculiar  excellence  of  the  New 
England  system  of  "town"  government,  we  claim  that 
the  scholastic  theories  which  have  been  applied  to  this 
political  growth  of  many  generations  are  not  historic  facts- 
All  the  towns  of  the  Old  Colony  organized  in  the  colonial 
period,  that  is,  before  the  union  of  the  two  colonies  in 
1691,  were  organized  under  the  principles  set  out  in  the 
orders  of  the  Court  at  New  Plimouth,  February  4,  1638-9, 
and  this  includes  "  Rehoboth."  This  is  as  follows  : 


A  form  of  the  deputation  or  committee-ship  where  wth  any  shall  bee  in- 
trusted by  the  governt  for  the  desposall  of  any  lands  wth  in  any  pculler 
place  or  line  wth  wch  is  or  shall  bee  thought  niete  for  the  erecting  of  a 
Planttaoon,  neighborhood,  colony,  township  or  congrga^on  with  in  this 
Government. 

Whereas,  our  Soveregne  Lord,  the  King,  is  pleased  to  betrust  us 

• wth  the  govmeut  of  so  many  of  his  subjects  as  doe  or  shall  bee 


86  HIS  TOPIC  REHOBOTH. 

pmitted  to  live  in  this  goviuent  of  New  Plyin  and  that  it  seemeth  good 
unto  us  to  begin,  set  up  and  establish  a  neighborhood,  or  plantain  at  a 

place  called being  bounded  and  lying miles  westward  from 

sd  towne  of  New  Plyin,  and 

Whereas,  by  reason  of  the  distance  of  place  and  our  many  weighty 
occasions,  we  cannot  so  well  see  to  the  receiving  in  of  such  psons  as  may 
be  fitt  to  live  together  there  in  the  fear  of  God  and  obeydjence  to  our 
Sovereigne  Lord,  the  King,  in  peace  and  love  as  becometh  Christian 
people,  all  which  we  earnestly  desire,  that  our  care  therefore  may  appear 
in  the  faythful  discharge  of  our  duties  towards  God,  the  King's  majesty 
and  the  people  whereof  we  are,  we  have  thought  good  to  betrust  our  well 

beloved with  receiving  in  such  people  unto   them  as  may 

make  good  our  desires  before  expressed,  and  therefore  require  of  the  said 

that   all  and  every  of  them  be  conscionably  faythful  and 

carefull  as  well  to  receive  in  peaceable  and  faythful  people  according  to 
their  best  discerning,  as  also  faythfully  to  dispose  of  such  equal  and  fitt" 
persons  of  lands  unto  them  and  enough  of  them  as  the  severall  estates, 
ranks  and  qualities  of  such  persons  as  the  Almighty  in  His  providence 
shall  send  in  amongst  them  shall  require,  that  so  we  may  comfortably 
ratyfye  and  connnne  such  por«ons  of  lands  as  they  shall  allot  and  set 
forth  in  our  behalf  to  all  and  every  one  that  shall  be  admitted  into  their 
societie  with  in  their  sd  limmitts  and  bounds,  that  so  we  may  be  free  from 
all  manner  of  complts  and  troubles  thereupon  wch  may  cause  us  to  alter 
anything  wch  may  seem  unjustly  or  indiscreetly  assigned  by  them  or  any 
or  said  deputies  or  committees,  provided  always  that  the  said  — 

reserve  for  our  disposal  at  least acres  of  good  land  with  meadows 

competent  in  place  convenient  and  be  lyable  from  tyme  to  tyme  and  at  all 
tymes  to  receive  and  follow  such  good  and  wholesome  instruction  as  they 
shall  receive  and  follow  for  the  Govment  about  the  well  ordering  of  the 
of  the  neighborhood  in  conformitie  to  such  good  and  •vholesome  laws,  or- 
dinances and  offices  as  are  or  shall  be  established  under  our  Sovereigne 
Lord  the  King  within. 

This  3d  govt  of  New  Plymouth. 

The  Court  in  anticipation  of  extended  settlements  had 
before  ordered  : 

"That  the  chief  government  be  tied  to  the  town  of  Plymouth,  and  that 
the  governor  for  the  time  being  be  tied  there  to  keep  his  residence  and 
dwelling." 

Under  this  theory  of  local  government  Rehoboth  was 


HISTORIC  HEHOSOTn.  87 

in  1645  established.  The  first  recognition  of  the  com- 
munity appears  in  the  appointment  of  a. constable.  The 
formal  recognition  of  the  township  organization  appears 
in  the  receiving  of  Deputies  to  the  Court  at  Plymouth  and 
the  approval  of  the  "townsmen,"  or  as  subsequently  they 
came  to  be  termed  "selectmen."  Generally  the  functions 
now  exercised  by  the  various  town  officers  familiar  to  this 
generation,  were  assigned  to  certain  inhabitants  for  the 
care  and  construction  of  ways,  the  providing  for  the  poor, 
the  assessment  of  taxes,  the  administration  of  justice  in 
small  causes,  etc.,  but  in  the  Old  Colony  the  Court  at 
Plymouth  yearly  confirmed  all  appointments  of  local  offi- 
cers in  the  townships  and  exercised  constant  supervision 
of  all  their  proceedings.  The  organization  now  known  as 
the  town,  with  its  local  powers  of  self-government,  existed 
only  in  its  first  beginnings,  and  rather  by  way  of  necessity. 
There  is  no  question,  however,  that  local  government  in 
the  towns  was  constantly  acquiring  strength  and  adding 
to  its  powers  during  the  whole  r.eriod  of  about  fifty  years, 
partly  from  their  isolated  position  and  the  emergencies  of 
Indian  hostilities,  partly  from  the  examples  of  the  planters 
at  Providence,  who  there  maintained  a  heterogeneous,  tur- 
bulent democracy,  in  which  each  individual  assumed  the 
largest  measure  of  personal  sovereignty,  and  partly  from 
the  established  powers  of  towns  at  the  Bay,  where  most  of 
the  settlers  had  come. 

The  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  at  an  early  day  out- 
stripped New  Plymouth  in  numbers  and  resources,  and 
thereupon  assumed  political  influence  and  authority  over 
the  adjoining  Old  Colony,  which  was  greatly  increased  by 
the  confederation  necessary  for  defense  against  the  In- 
dians, as  a  common  enemy.  Thus  the  organic  foundations 
of  the  town  at  the  Bay  gradually  extended  to  the  Old 
Colony  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  At  a  "Genall  Court 


88  HISTORIC  Jt 


holden  at  Newtowne,"  March  3,  1635,  the  record  shows  : 

'•  Whereas,  pticuler  townes  have  many  thing  wch  concerne  only  them- 
selves *  *  *  it  is  therefore  ordered  that  the  ffremen  of  every  towne 
or  the  main  pie  of  them  *  *  *  choose  their  owne  pticnlar  officers  as 
constables,  surveyors  for  the  highways  and  the  like/' 

The  predominating  influence  of  the  Bay,  over  the 
smaller  adjoining  colony  did  not  stop  with  simply  the  ex- 
ample, potential  as  this  doubtless  was.  The  General 
Court  of  the  Bay  advised  the  Old  Colony  as  to  matters  of 
its  internal  government  of  morals  and  religion.  The 
secession  from  Weymouth  to  Rehoboth  carried  that  party 
from  the  Bay  who  were  too  radical  in  faith  for  those  ol 
Massachusetts,  and  the  assistant,  John  Brown,  held  like 
liberal  sentiments. 

Thus  the  Anabaptists  became  a  large  element  in  its 
population  at  a  very  early  date  and  gave  the  Bay  authori- 
ties great  concern.  A  letter  written  from  the  General 
Court  to  Plimouth,  "  for  preventing  ye  groeth  of  errors," 
shows  this  supervision  : 

October  18.  llUfl: 
Honored  and  beloved  brethren  — 

We  have  heard  heretofore  of  diverse  annabaptists  arizin  up  in  your 
jurasdicoon  and  connived  at  *  *  *  Particularly  wee  understand  that 
within  this  few  weeks  there  have  been  at  Seccuncke  thirteene  or  four- 
teene  psons  rebaptized,  (a  swift  progress  in  one  towne)  yet  we  heare  not 
if  any  effectual  restricoon  is  extended  thereabouts.  The  infecoon  of  such 
diseases  being  so  neare  us  are  likely  to  spread  into  our  jurisdiction,  tune 
tuares  ayitur  paries  cum  nroximis  ardet.  Wee  are  united  by  confederacy, 
by  faith,  by  neighborhood,  by  fellowship  in  our  sufferings  as  exiles,  and 
by  other  Christian  bonds,  and  wee  hope  neither  Satan  nor  any  of  his 
instruments  shall  by  this  or  any  other  errors  disunite  us,  and  that  wet- 
shall  never  have  cause  to  repent  us  of  our  so  neare  conjunction  with 
you." 

These  and  other  causes  make  it  clear  that  the  township 
of  Rehoboth,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Old  Colony, 
had  grown  into  a  larger  independence  than  prevailed  else- 


JtEUOBOTB.  89 

where  in  that  colony,  and  it  was  thus  early  marked  by 
•that  ecclesiastical  freedom  then  existing  in  the  dismem- 
bered settlements  adjoining,  which  afterwards  became  the 
Providence  Plantations.  The  consolidation  of  the  two 
colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Plymonth  into 
one  real  province  by  the  name  of  the  Province  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  under  the  charter  of  1691,  invested  Reho- 
both  with  all  the  functions  which  had  by  a  like  but  faster 
growth'attached  to  the  towns  of  the  Bay.  These  func- 
tions or  powers  of  local  government  in  the  town  were  at 
the  first  session  of  the  General  Court  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  provincial  government,  under  the  charter 
of  1691,  fully  set  forth  in  an  act  passed  November  16, 
1692-3,  entitled  "An  Act  for  Regulating  of  Townships, 
Choice  of  Town  Officers,  and  Setting  forth  their  Power." 
This  act  is  one  of  the  most  important  landmarks  in  our 
municipal  history,  showing  the  advance  made  toward  local 
government  in  towns  and  by  comparison  with  subsequent 
legislation  and  history,  and  showing  how  far  the  authority 
then  established  falls  short  of  the  enlarged  powers  attained 
by  the  towns  at  the  time  when  the  present  constitution 
was  established  in  1780. 

From  1700  to  1775  there  was  a  constant  growth  in  the 
functions  of  the  town  government,  owing  largely  to  the 
town  being  made  the  unit  in  military  organization,  and  at 
the  latter  portion  of  this  period  arising  from  the  use  of 
the  town  government  to  promote  the  popular  discontent 
against  the  authority  of  the  crown.  In  this  way  the  town 
meeting  became  the  most  important  factor  in  securing 
the  independence  of  the  colonies  from  the  English  crown 
in  Massachusetts,  and  the  influences  thus  exerted  ex- 
tended to  all  the  other  colonies,  so  that  it  may  justly  be 
said  that  the  national  independence  may  be  ascribed  to 
the  New  England  town  meeting.  It  is  not,  therefore,  sur- 


00  HISTORIC  fiEHOBOTtt. 

prising  that  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts  established 
in  1780,  while  the  contest  was  pending  by  which  the  right 
of  the  Commonwealth  to  be  "a  free,  foreign  and  inde- 
pendent body  politic  or  state  "  was  to  be  determined, 
should  found  its  "  representation  of  the  people  to  be  an- 
nually elected  on  the  principal  of  equality "  upon  the 
town  organizations,  and  thus  Rehoboth  retained  its  repre- 
sentation as  a  unit  of  political  power  in  the  state  from 
1645  until  the  constitutional  amendments  made  in  1855,  a 
period  of  210  years. 

Time  will  allow  but  a  brief  reference  to  Rehoboth  in 
the  Commonwealth  period.  At  the  begining  of  the  pres- 
ent century  Rehoboth  held  the  first  place  in  population" 
and  influence  in  southeastern  Massachusetts.  In  the 
census  of  1800  it  had  the  largest  population  of  any  town 
in  Bristol  County.  Population  and  political  power  move 
and  aggregate  on  lines  of  public  travel  and  intercommuni- 
cation. The  energy  and  enterprise  of  Massachusetts  for 
the  first  twenty  years  of  this  century  were  expended  on 
the  construction  of  highways.  The  turnpike,  now  for- 
gotten, determined  the  growth  of  the  town.  For  a  time 
the  public  attention  was  devoted  to  canals,  and  the  State 
and  general  government  were  involved  in  schemes  to  unite 
the  waters  of  Massachusetts  and  Narragansett  Bays. 
This  was  succeeded  by  the  system  of  railroads  which  have 
marvelously  developed  the  energies  and  affected  the  public 
and  political  status  of  the  town,  and  we  now  are  entering 
upon  a  new  system  of  electric  intercommunication,  which 
opens  up  for  the  future  new  and  still  more  surprising 
changes  in  the  movements  of  human  industry. 

The  avenues  of  life  and  enterprise  have  changed  also 
from  the  farm  to  the  workshop.  The  farmer  has  given 
place  to  the  wage  laborer  and  the  mill  hand.  The  herds 
and  crops  of  the  farm  have  given  place  to  the  incorporated 


HISTORIC  EEI10BOTU.  91 

capital  of  the  manufacturer.  The  town  has  given  place  to 
the  city.  These  new  factors  of  modern  life  have  had  an 
important  bearing  on  the  growth  of  Rehoboth  during  the 
present  century.  Especially  have  the  interests  of  Reho- 
both as  a  town  been  seriously  affected  by  the  transfer  of 
a  portion  of  her  original  domain  to  a  foreign  jurisdiction, 
justified  by  no  sound  policy,  private  or  public,  nor  by  any 
substantial  claim  of  title  either  in  history  or  justice. 
These  influences  though  they  have  impared  the  authority 
of  this  ancient  town  in  the  councils  of  the  State,  have  in 
no  measure  diminished  that  attachment  for  the  old  town 
government  prevading  her  sons  and  daughters,  whether 
residing  within  her  narrowed  limits  or  wandering  into  the 
outside  arena  of  business  life  and  enterprise.  With  glad- 
ness they  do  and  ever  shall  return  to  the  homestead  of 
their  youth,  bearing  these  memorial  tributes  to  the  Old 
Colony  history  of  this  ancient  town. 

Next,  to  the  tune  of  "  Auld  Lang  Syne,"  was  sung  the 
following  very  appropriate  Dedication  Hymn,  written  for 
the  occasion  by  Mrs.  Lucy  B.  Sweet,  of  Attleboro  : 

[Lucy  Bliss  Sweet,  the  author  of  the  following  hymn,  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  William  Carpenter  and  Thomas  Bliss  —  two  of  the  original  found- 
ers of  the  town  —  was  born  in  Rehoboth  village  on  the  spot  now  occupied 
by  the  house  of  John  C.  Marvel,  Esq.,  August  1, 1824,  and  is  the  daughter 
of  Joseph  and  Xancy  M.  (Bullock)  Carpenter.  Her  father  was  the  son  of 
James  and  Lucy  (Bliss)  Carpenter,  and  eldest  grandchild  of  Col.  Thomas 
Carpenter,  of  Revolutionary  fame,  and  was  himself  a  soldier  and  pensioner 
of  1812.  He  died  in  Attleboro  November  12,  1880,  in  the  ninety-second 
year  of  his  age,  and  his  wife  May  4,  the  same  year,  aged  87,  after  a  union 
of  more  than  sixty-seven  years.  Lucy  B.  Carpenter  was  married  in  1851 
Everett  Leprilete  Sweet,  of  Attleboro,  where  she  has  since  resided. 
Evincing  a  talent  for  putting  her  thoughts  in  rhyme,  and  inheriting  a 
large  share  of  love  and  loyalty  to  home  and  country,  she  has  been  the 
author  of  many  poems  of  a  patriotic  and  social  nature ;  also  from  early 
youth  a  constant  contributor  to  local  papers  of  articles  on  a  variety  of 
subjects  of  public  interest,  and  is  an  earnest  supporter  of  benevolent  and 
reformatory  work  by  example  and  pen.  j 


92  HISTORIC  REIIOBOTH. 

DEDICATION    HYMN. 
(Tune,  Auld  Lang  Syne.) 

Come  friends  and  neighbors,  kindred  all, 

To  join  in  sweet  accord ; 
Come  Memory,  a  welcome  guest, 

Inspire  each  voice  and  word, 
In  praise  and  prayer  and  gratitude 

To  ev'ry  heart  and  hand 
That  wrought  in  love,  so  skillfully, 

This  goodly  building  planned. 

Sacred  may  it  forever  be 

To  all,  in  age  or  youth, 
Who  seek  to  find  within  its  walls 

The  precious  germs  of  truth. 
May  wisdom's  golden  grains  abound 

To  'nrichthis  ancient  town; 
God  of  our  fathers,  let  thy  love 

Each  day  and  labor  crown. 

The  heart  goes  back  to  other  days 

When  by  yon  river's  side 
We  played,  who  now  are  growing  grey, 

Yet  view  this  work  with  pride ; 
May  we,  when  time  shall  be  no  more, 

Join  with  the  ransomed  throng. 
Where  Daught  our  perfect  joy  shall  mar 

In  an  unbroken  song. 

The  impressive  dedication  exercises  of  the  morning 
ended  with  the  benediction. 

INTERMISSION. 

At  the  close,  the  large  concourse  of  people  passed  from 
the  hall  and  assembled  in  social  groups,  some  in  the  anti- 
quarian room,  some  in  the  library,  and  more  out  on  the 
ample  lawn.  One  of  the  articles  added  to  the  library  that 
day  was  a  fine  revolving  book  case,  presented  by  Mr. 
Gustavus  B.  Peck.  An  early  call  to  dinner  met  a  ready 
response,  and  hundreds  of  guests  passsed  down  into  the 


HISTORIC  EEHOBOTB.  93 

cool,  dry  and  well  lighted  basement,  where  a  most  excel- 
lent dinner  of  salads,  cakes,  ices,  fruit,  etc.,  was  waiting. 
After  dinner  the  speakers  and  invited  guests  were  gath- 
ered on  the  lawn  and  faced  the  dread  instrument  of  the 
photographer.  Gathering  strength  from  numbers,  not  a 
man  forsook  his  ppst.  The  narrator  will  leave  the  com- 
pany to  their  postprandial  diversions,  and  again  turn  his 
attention  to  biography.  As  Rev.  Mr.  Tilton's  directive 
power  was  the  alpha  and  omega  of  the  dedication  pro- 
gramme, his  biography  may  be  appropriately  inserted 
here  as  the  connecting  link  between  the  morning  and 
afternoon  exercises. 


REV.  GEORGE  HENRY  TILTON,  A.  M. 
Rev.  George  Henry  Tilton,  A.  M.,  son  of  William 
Wells  and  Sarah  Ann  (Morrill)  Tilton,  was  born  in  Nashua, 
N.  H.,  January  31,  1845.  Soon  after,  his  parents  moved 
to  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  still  later  to  Hopkincon,  where 
most  of  his  childhood  was  spent.  Besides  the  district 
schools,  he  attended  the  Contoocook  and  Hopkinton 
academies  and  spent  one  term  at  the  Rumford  Grammar 
school  in  Concord,  where  he  enjoyed  the  faithful  instruc- 
tion of  Mr.  James  W.  Webster.  He  fitted  for  college  at 
Williston  seminary,  Easthampton,  graduating  in  1866. 
He  graduated  from  Amherst  College  in  1870,  and  from 
Andover  Theological  Seminary  in  1873.  Was  ordained 
at  Hopkinton,  N.  H.,  June  4,  1873.  Afterward  he  en- 
joyed a  course  in  medicine  in  New  York  city.  In  1874 
he  organized  the  Central  Congregational  Church  at  Attle- 
boro  Falls,  and  remained  with  the  church  until  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  new  church  edifice  in  May,  1875.  Preached 
at  Wolfboro,  N.  H.,  from  the  autumn  of  1875  to  the 
summer  of  1877,  during  which  period  there  was  an  exten- 


94  HISTORIC  BEHOBOTH. 

sive  revival  of  religion  in  the  town.  On  account  of  ex- 
haustion from  overwork  he  left  Wolfboro,  and  spent  several 
months  in  rest. 

He  began  his  very  successful  pastorate  at  Rehoboth  in 
October,  1877,  whither  he  moved  January  i,  1878.  After 
preaching  five  years,  he  was  installed  over  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  November  2,  1882.  His  pastorate  has  been 
one  of  marked  success  and  unusual  harmony.  In  public 
affairs  he  has  shown  the  interest  of  a  whole  hearted  man 
and  a  public  spirited  citizen  —  not  the  least  of  his  enter- 
prises being  the  building  of  the  Memorial  Hall.  In  a 
speech  that  follows  a  deserved  tribute  is  paid  him  by  one 
best  qualified  to  speak.  He  was  married  June  6,  1876,  to 
Ella  Minerva,  daughter  of  Thomas  Stanley  and  Minerva 
Wheaton  (Freeman)  Mann,  of  Attleboro  Falls,  Mass.  They 
have  three  children. 


Afternoon  Exercises. 


But  neither  the  epicurean  delights  of  the  dinner,  the 
wonderful  and  various  treasurers  of  the  antiquarian  room, 
nor  the  charms  of  pleasant  converse  and  companionship 
made  people  forget  the  hour  of  the  afternoon  exercises. 
The  hall  was  filled  as  in  the  morning,  a  decrease  of  num- 
bers being  shown  rather  in  an  increased  comfort  among 
the  audience  than  by  vacant  seats.  The  speakers,  like 
the  victims  designed  in  olden  time  to  amuse  the 
Roman  populace,  were  on  exhibition  upon  the  platform. 
In  introducing  the  afternoon  programme,  Mr.  Whitman 
Chase,  of  Harvard  College,  read  the  appropriate  poem 
here  appended : 

[Whitman  f'hase,  author  of  the  poem  of  the  afternoon,  is  the  son 
of  Capt.  Whitman  and  Mehitable  I).  Chase,  and  was  horn  in  North 
Dighton  Octoher  27.  18<>7.  lie  graduated  from  Bristol  Academy,  Taun" 
Ion.  and  entered  Harvard  College  without  conditions  at  the  age  of  scvcn- 
tiM-1).  He  takes  great  interest  in  literary  studies,  and  has  already  shown 
marked  ability  in  that  direction.] 

LINKS    ON    THE    DEDICATION    OF  GOFp's    MEMORIAL    HALL. 

Though  prosy  praters  ridicule 

The  poet's  product  and  his  rhythmic  rule, 

And  vote  to  him  the  lowest  place 

In  arts  'vhich  benefit  our  race, 

A  man  of  care  and  thoughtful  mind, 


!)<$  HISTORIC  REHOBOTlt. 

If  he  should  study  deep,  would  find 
How  much  the  gift  of  rhyming  tends 
To  aid  and  cheer  and  teach,  and  lends 
A  harmony,  a  condiment,  to  season  life, 
And  gives  a  respite  in  its  eager  strife. 

From  earliest  times  the  usage  came, 

Since  David  dared  the  Lord  proclaim; 

Since  Homer  lived,  and  Sappho's  lyre 

Inflamed  the  Grecian  heart  with  fire; 

Since  Norland  Skalds  their  sages  sang, 

Since  Welsh  and  Scottish  ballads  rang 

Throughout  their  native  hills,  imparting  power 

TO  warriors  in  the  needful  hour. 

Since  then,  whene'er  a  work  of  note 

The  assembled  public  gather  to  promote, 

Or  column  raised,  or  victory  won, 

Or  public  edifice  begun, 

Straightway  the  poet  summons  up  his  skill 

To  charm  or  sicken,  or  to  cure  or  kill ; 

This  custom  prompts,  nor  worth  of  ryhme, 

To  dare  intrude  upon  your  time. 

Who,  since  the  last  revolving  year 

Has  run  its  course,  has  chanced  to  hear 

Kehoboth  named,  but  failed  to  hear  the  hall? 

Already  part  and  parcel  of  the  all, 

We  meet  to  dedicate  in  formal  way, 

A  source  of  pride  this  offering  of  to-day. 

Pride?    Yes,  for  though  you  take  a  large  amount 

In  well-tilled  farms,  or  lengthy  bank  account, 

Enlightment  a  worthier  cause  can  show, 

And  public  spirit  more  pretension  know. 

What  good  can  wholly  selfish  breathing  give? 

For  merely  to  exist  is  half  to  live; 

And  half  to  live  is  not  to  live  at  all; 

A  rather  faulty  logic  you  may  call 

Such  reasoning,  still,  must  you  not  confess 

It  does  a  little  truth  express? 

Accomplishment  is  reached  at  last, 

Enjoyment  comes,  the  labor's  past; 

This  day's  momentous  deed  will  crown 

An  epoch  in  the  annals  of  the  town, 

And  seasons  hence  you'll  hear  your  townsmen  say, 


HISTORIC  EEHOBOTII.  97 

When  calling  up  some  old  occurrence  laid  away 
In  blank  forgetfulness :  "  It  happened  in  the  fall 
Of  '85,  the  year  they  built  the  hall. 

Here  let  me  leave  the  usual  road 

Of  travel  to  relate  an  episode : 

One  clay  in  sore  perplex,  Minerva  came 

To  grimy  Vulcan's  drear  abode  of  flame, 

With  troubled  brow  the  aged  man  bespoke 

And  thus  essayed  assistance  to  invoke — 

"  Alas,  that  Jove  assigned  to  me 

The  care  and  weal  of  human  destiny; 

It  grieves  me  much  to  see  men  raise, 

Huge  towers  of  stone  in  other's  praise, 

And  strive  to  build,  with  precious  means  and  moil, 

A  useful  work  which  scarce  requites  their  toil. 

Now  lend  your  aid,  some  well-wrought  plan  devise 

To  show  these  mortals  where  their  error  lies, 

And  thus  employ  your  wisdom,  learned  of  years, 

To  loose  my  cares  and  cease  my  flow  of  tears." 

Long  pondered  Vulcan  o'er  his  art, 

Long  sought  the  wished  for  service  to  impart, 

Till  many  an  age  of  short  enduring  man 

Had  seen  the  day,  and  passed  its  earthly  span; 

Until  he  gained  the  precious  prize  he  sought, 

1'iHil  he  reared  with  matchless  labor  fraught, 

Upon  a  solid  fundament  of  stone, 

A  structure  not  for  ornament  alone, 

Though  made  with  beauty,  and  with  art  combined, 

But  still  suggestive,  useful,  fitting,  well  designed, 

And  high  relieved  upon  the  outward  wall, 

He  wrote  the  legend,  "  Goff  's  Memorial  Hall.'' 

PRESENTATION  OF  REV.  MR.  TILTON'S  PORTRAIT. 
After  the  adjournment  of  the  morning  session  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  arrangement  sought  a  private  inter- 
view with  Dr.  Taylor,  and  communicated  the  fact  that, 
entirely  unbeknown  to  Mr.  Tilton,  an  excellent  likeness 
of  him  had  been  procured  by  several  of  his  friends,  which 
they  proposed  to  have  presented  early  in  the  ex- 
ercises in  the  afternoon,  and  they  desired  him  to  render 


«8  HISTORIC 

the  approptiate  service.  Matters  were  arranged  accord- 
ingly. At  the  conclusion  of  the  poem,  Mr.  Tilton, 
the  moderator,  was  requested  to  suspend  for  a  little  the 
regular  order  of  exercises  that  a  brief  statement  might  be 
made  by  another.  The  portrait  in  the  meantime  had 
quietly  been  brought  in  closely  veiled.  Dr.  Taylor  re- 
quested th'e  covering  to  be  removed  in  the  presence  of 
the  audience,  and  accompanied  the  transaction  with  a 
brief  address  to  the  unconscious  victim  of  the  embarrass- 
ing surprise  : 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :-— In  the  profession  we  are  called  to 
serve,  one  of  the  most  pleasing  and  gratifying  rewards  of 
our  labor  is  derived  from  these  expressions  of  gratitude 
and  fond  esteem  which  we  are  permitted  from  time  to 
time  to  receive.  Burdens  are  rendered  easy,  labors  light, 
as  hearts  of  affection  respond  so  cordially  to  earnest  en- 
deavors for  their  good.  These  sacred  fountains  of  abid- 
ing joy  are  opened  to  the  ministry  as  no  where  else.  In 
his  walks  of  usefulness  the  person  of  the  pastor  becomes 
at  length  associated  with  the  most  hallowed  things  in  the 
sanctuary  and  the  home,  and  his  countenance  as  the  bene- 
diction of  an  angel  of  God,  and  everywhere  there  springs 
up  a  strong  desire  to  retain  the  sacred  image. 

And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  I  have  this  pleasant  sur- 
prise for  you,  and  it  suits  well  my  spirit  of  revenge  to 
return  your  own  methods  when  you  made  me  wonder  and 
weep  as  the  results  of  your  generous  deeds]were  revealed. 
Behold  this  picture !  What  say  you  to  its  fidelity  to  the 
original  ?  Can  you  see  yourself  as  others  see  you  ? 

Your  friends  think  the  likeness  excellent.  They  hope 
it  will  seem  perfect  in  your  own  eyes.  It  is  not  so  much  a 
treasure  for  to-day  as  for  future  times.  Those  who  are 
about  you  now  prefer  the  living,  abiding  original.  But 


HISTORIC  BEHOBOTII.  99 

when  you  will  not  be  here,  and  the  story  of  your  work  is 
told  to  the  children,  how  happy  they  will  be  to  point  to 
this  canvass  and  say  there  is  the  likeness  of  the  good 
man.  Please  accept  this  token  of  their  loving  regard, 
and  let  it  adorn  the  walls  of  this  Memorial  Hall,  where 
your  abundant  and  successful  labors  are  so  manifest,  and 
may  the  memory  of  this  tender  scene,  and  this  so  appro- 
priate transaction,  remain  with  you  as  a  source  of  abiding 
joy  through  all  days. 

Mr.  Tilton  in  response  said  :  If  I  am  expected  to  reply  to 
this  speech  I  shall  disappoint  you.  If  I  have  ever  been 
taken  by  surprise  it  is  now.  I  don't  know  what  I  can  say, 
my  heart  is  so  touched  by  this  token  of  your  affection.  I 
will  not  attempt  to  make  a  speech  ;  I  will  only  say  from 
my  heart  I  thank  you,  and  may  God  bless  you  always. 

MR.  DAVID  A.  WALDRON'S  TRIBUTE. 

Mr.  David  A.  Waldron,  President  of  the  Barrington 
Historic  Antiquarian  Society,  being  called  upon,  spoke  of 
the  influence  which  such  a  society  and  such  a  building 
would  have  in  years  to  come,  not  only  upon  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  good  old  town  of  Rehoboth,  but  as  a  pebble 
cast  into  the  sea  causes  its  pulse  to  beat  until  its  vibra- 
tions reached  the  shores  of  other  lands,  so  other  com- 
munities would  be  blessed  by  this  enterprise.  His  own 
town  had  already  been  provoked  to  good  works  by  the 
example  set  them  by  this  society,  through  whose  efforts  we 
see  such  results  to-day. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  in  driving  through  this 
village,  he  met  the  President  of  your  Society,  who  in- 
vited him  to  visit  the  antiquarian  room,  then  located  in  a 
building  near  by — not  such  an  imposing  edifice  as  we 
find  here  to-day  —  but  it  made  such  an  impression  upon 


100  Jf/STOSlC  RE  HO  BOTH. 

his  mind  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  which  had  been 
inaugrated  that  soon  after  measures  were  taken  to  organ- 
nize  a  society  in  Barrington,  and  in  recognition  of  the  debt 
for  the  example  thus  set  they  have  seen  fit  to  make  the 
Rev.  George  H.  Tillon,  President  of  the  Rehoboth  Society, 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Society  in  Barrington.  He 
presented  Mr.  Tilton  with  a  finely  engraved  certificate  of 
membership,  properly  signed,  bearing  the  State  arms,  a 
picture  of  the  building  which  the  Society  hope  soon  to 
have  erected,  drawn  by  the  same  architects  who  made  the 
plans  for  the  "  Goff  Memorial,"  and  also  the  significant 
seal  of  the  Society. 

Mr.  Tilton  then  resumed  his  duties  as  chairman,  and. 
with  grateful  compliment  and  in  fitting  terms  presented 
the  speakers  of  the  afternoon.     As  the  time  was  limited 
all  spoke  briefly  and  without  notes.     Their  addresses  ap- 
pear in  the  order  in  which  they  were  given: 

RESPONSE  OF  GEN.  OLNEY  ARNOLD. 
I  received  a  notice  from  my  friend  Mr.  Goff  —  my  young 
friend  I  should  have  said — a  week  ago  and  the  pro- 
gramme gave  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  The  number 
of  distinguished  names  upon  it  assured  me  that  it  would 
be  an  intellectual  feast,  and  I  have  realized  it  to  the  full- 
est extent  of  my  anticipations.  It  also  gave  me  another 
pleasure  and  that  was,  that  I  was  relieved  from  the 
anxiety  that  I  might  have  felt  at  the  bare  possibility  of 
being  called  upon  to  say  something  on  the  occasion.  My 
personal  friends  in  Pawtucket  know  that  for  a  few  years 
past,  on  occasions  like  this,  I  have  armed  myself  with  a 
doggeral  poem,  and  when  the  time  came  I  read  it,  and  I 
have  never  been  called  upon  by  the  same  parties  a  second 
time.  I  have  never  tried  it  here  and  I  greatly  regret  that 
I  am  without  that  weapon  of  defense.  Mr.  Chairman,  it 


HISTORIC  J1EUOBOTH.  101 

was  very  kind  of  you,  I  know,  to  call  upon  me  after  the 
distinguished  and  cultured  gentlemen  who  have  spoken 
to-day,  so  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  all. 

ADDRESS  BY  EDGAR  PERRY. 

I  wish,  first  of  all,  to  thank  your  President  for  intro- 
ducing me  as  "a  native  of  Rehoboth."  In  this  presence 
and  on  this  occasion  who  could  ask  a  higher  enco- 
mium ?  True,  his  reference  to  my  adoption  by  another 
municipality  disturbed  me  for  a  moment,  until  I  reflected 
that  Attleborough  is  a  daughter  of  Rehoboth,  and  that  I, 
therefore,  had  simply  changed  from  a  son  to  a  grandson — a 
relationship  which  many  have  proved  brings  them  just  as 
near  the  grand-dame's  heart. 

And  yet  with  all  the  honors  which  accrue  to  the  origi- 
nal household  to-day,  we  of  Attleborough,  Cumberland,  old 
Seekonk  and  Swansea,  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  the 
daughters'  estates.  We  hold  rather  that  Attleborough's 
hundred  jewelery  firms  ;  Cumberland's  daily  product  of 
150,000  yards  of  cloth;  the  varied  industries  of  Paw- 
tucket —  to  the  chiefest  of  which  this  Memorial  owes  so 
much  —  together  with  the  thriving  business  at  Rumford, 
and  the  prosperous  husbandry  of  Seekonk  and  Swansea, 
do  not  rival  each  other  nor  the  mother  town,  but  together 
contribute  to  that  honor  which  to-day  covers  in  benedic- 
tion all  the  original  boundaries  of  the  ancient  colony. 
Our  interests  are  those  of  a  common  household,  reciprocal 
and  interdependent. 

So,  in  imagination,  we  may  consider  ourselves  at  a  grand 
family  reunion.  The  maternal  township  of  Rehoboth,  with 
eye  undimned  and  natural  force  unabated,  receives  here  at 
the  old  homestead,  which  some  of  her  many  sons  remain 
to  till,  the  four  daughters  whom  she  married  to  brave  and 


102  iiixToitu'  /,-/-;//o/;o  •/•//. 

virtuous  citizenship  years  ago.  All  are  still  young,  and 
with  their  large  families  are  present  to-day  in  festive  mood 
and  holiday  attire. 

One  has  driven  hither  in  her  own  equipage  behind  a 
dashing  span  of  greys.  Even  a  casual  glance  shows  that 
both  carriage  and  horses  have  been  selected  with  an 
appreciative  eye.  Her  dress  tells  us  she  is  no  stranger 
in  Gotham,  and  her  speech  that  she  has  ready  intercourse 
with  the  Hub.  She  sinks  gracefully  into  the  easy  chair 
procured  expressly  for  this  occasion,  with  the  unconscious 
air  of  one  who  is  used  to  the  good  things  of  life  at  home. 
With  a  loving,  generous  smile,  which  rejoices  in  the  evi- 
dent prosperity  of  her  kindred,  she  asks  after  the  health 
of  the  household.  The  book  she  selects  from  the  centre 
table  evinces  a  taste  for  good  reading,  and  she  joins  the 
conversation  in  a  way  that  shows  wide  information  and  a 
practical  shrewdness  which  marks  her  as  her  mother's 
own  child.  In  a  spirit  more  of  loyalty  to  the  handicraft 
of  her  sons  than  of  any  weak,  personal  vanity,  she  has 
adorned  herself  with  bracelets,  ear-drops,  pins  and  rings, 
and,  as  she  sees  her  Puritan  mother  viewing  the  finery 
with  a  suggestion  of  reproach,  she  rises  and  gives  her  a 
hearty  "smack,"  and,  with  a  twinkle  in  her  eye  that  dis- 
arms the  satire,  says  : 

'•  Je\\els  are  baubles:  'tis  a  sin 

To  care  for  such  unfruitful  things : 

One  good  sized  diamond  in  a  pin- 
Some,  not  so  large,  in  rings — 

A  ruby  and  a  pearl  or  so, 

Will  do  for  me; — I  laugh  at  show!" 

The  daughter  from  the  neighboring  estate  disregards 
diamonds,  but  we  hasten  to  say  from  no  sense  of  poverty, 
for  she  has  a  Diamond  Hill  on  her  premises.  But  when  a 
mere  girl  she  evinced  a  fondness  for  machinery,  and  used 


HISTORIC  jiEnoJioTn.  ion 

always  to  spin  the  flax  and  wool  for  the  household.  And 
when  she  married  and  settled  over  by  the  Blackstone,  she 
quickly  saw  the  benefits  of  applying  water  power  to 
weaving,  and  now  her  Lonsdale  mills  make  cloth  for  the 
whole  country.  She  may  notice  with  satisfaction  that  the 
granite  posts  by  the  roadside  came  from  her  own  quarries, 
and  the  horse  shoe  over  the  door  from  her  forges  at  Valley 
Falls.  She  is  a  quiet,  industrious  body,  and,  possibly 
busy  in  designing  some  new  fabric,  takes  very  little  share 
in  the  conversation  until  the  labor  question  is  broached. 
Then  she  shows  she  has  decided  opinions  and  can  make 
them  heard  and  felt.  We  can  believe  her  sentiments 
voice  the  family  respect  for  honest  industry,  and 

'•  Haply  from  them  the  toiler,  bent 

Above  his  forge  or  plow,  may  gain 
A  manlier  spirit  of  content, 
And  feel  that  life  is  wisest  spent 

V\  here  the  strong  working  hand 

makes  strong  the  working  brain." 

Tall  and  fair,  but  with  the  glow  of  rustic  health  in  her 
cheek,  comes  the  western  daughter,  who  wins  the  partial 
welcome  due  the  youngest  child.  She  is  no  stranger  at 
the  old  homestead,  for,  like  the  mother,  she  is  wedded  to 
husbandry,  and  together  they  often  discuss  the  mysteries 
of  the  dairy  and  the  prospects  of  the  garden.  Located 
nearer  the  centre  of  trade,  she  does  a  flourishing  business 
in  all  kinds  of  farm  products,  and,  though  not  a  few  of 
her  sons  have  become  wealthy,  the  tenor  of  her  house- 
hold refutes  the  proverb  "  That  plain  living  and  high 
thinking  are  no  more."  She  is  a  model  farmer's  wife,  her 
only  variation  from  her  mother's  cooking  being  the  sub- 
stitution of  Rumford  "Bread  Preparation"  for  potato 
yeast.  And  she  says  she  uses  that  just  to  patronize  "the 
boys."  Industrious,  intelligent  and  devoted,  she  is  typical 
of  the  town — 


104  HISTORIC  KE 


"  Iii  whose  neat  homesteads  \\oman  hoi,  Is 
With  modest  ease,  her  equal  place, 
And  wears  upon  her  tranquil  face 

The  look  of  one  who,  merging  not 

Her  selfhood  in  another  will, 

Is  love's  and  duty's  handmaid  still.'' 

First  to  come  and  last  to  leave  is  the  eldest  daughter 
—  one  whose  enterprises  in  copper  coinage  and  ship  build- 
ing won  her  a  competence  long  ago.  We  can  almost 
imagine  that  she  has  taken  upon  herself  the  burden  of 
entertainment  to-day,  and  will  trust  no  one  else  to  bake 
the  shad  for  dinner.  She  has  just  come  in,  plump  and 
jovial,  to  say  they'll  be  cooked  in  half  an  hour,  and,  with- 
out stopping  to  roll  down  her  sleeves,  kisses  "the  girls" 
all  round,  and  asks  the  grandchildren  out  to  the  pantry  for 
doughnuts  !  Free  handed  in  hospitality,  diligent  in  busi- 
ness, patriotic  in  war  and  constant  in  the  faith,  this  elder 
municipal  sister  and  daughter  happily  lives  and  thrives  — 

"  With  Earth  and  Ocean  reconciled 

****** 

Under  the  walls 

Where  swells  and  falls 

The  Bay's  deep  breast  at  intervals. 

But  enough  of  metaphor.  From  our  town's  past  so 
honorable,  and  present  so  benign,  we  turn  a  questioning 
eye  on  the  future.  And  we  do  it  with  confidence,  for 
"The  best  of  prophets  of  the  Future  is  the  Past,"  "And 
in  to-day  already  walks  to-morrow." 

There  is  no  reason  to  despond  over  Rehoboth's  indus- 
trial future.  Situated  as  it  is,  with  main  lines  of  railroad 
on  every  side,  and  no  portion  of  it  more  than  an  hour's 
ride  from  some  station,  it  offers  facilities  that  half  the 
farmers  in  New  England  might  envy.  With  the  growing 
municipalities  about  her  —  Attleborough  on  the  north, 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  105 

Taunton  on  the  east,  Fall  River  toward  the  south  and 
Providence  ever  coming  nearer  on  the  west  —  there  is  no 
reason  why  a  Rehoboth  young  man  should  hold  his  herit- 
age lightly.  And  what  a  heritage  it  is  !  Acres  which  a 
resolute  and  self-denying  ancestry  redeemed  from  barbar- 
ism and  defended  oftimes  with  their  blood  ;  homes  which 
have  been  brightened  by  the  births,  gladdened  by  the 
weddings,  and  hallowed  by  the  deaths  of  seven  genera- 
tions ;  walls,  which  if  they  could  speak,  might  tell  us  how 
costly  was  the  sowing  and  how  careful  has  been  the  hus- 
bandry of  this  our  nation  to  this  day.  "  A  heritage,  it 
seems  to  me,  a  king  might  wish  to  hold  in  fee." 

It  is  for  us  this  day,  with  no  weak  sentiment,  but  with 
resolute  purpose,  to  be  consecratad  to  the  work  which 
other  generations  have  left  us  to  perform.  And  whether 
as  readers  we  learn  from  history's  page  the  story  which 
other  men  have  wrought  out,  often  in  poverty,  often  in 
tears,  often  by  the  fitful  glimmer  of  a  midnight  lamp ;  or 
whether  as  journalists  we  strive  to  catch  and  hold  the 
present  by  the  "art  preservative,"  it  is  for  us  all  here  this 
day  to  remember  that — 

'•  Life  is  a  sheet  of  paper  white, 
Whereon  each  one  of  us  may  write 
His  word  or  two  and  then  comes  night. 

(I really  begin;  and  though  thou  have  time 
Hut  for  a  line,  be  that  sublime; 
Not  failure,  but  low  aim  is  crime.'' 


REV.  E.  G.  PORTER  OF  LEXINGTON. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : — When  I  received   the   invitation   of 

your  committee  to  attend  these  exercises,  I  was  uncertain 

whether    I  should  be  able  to  accept  it.       Remembering, 

however,  a  pleasant  visit  which  I  had  here  three  years 


KM;  nisromc 

ago,  when  I  gave  a  lyceum  lecture  in  the  church,  I  re- 
called the  fact  that  I  had  on  that  occasion  taken  upon 
myself  to  advocate  with  some  earnestness  the  possibility 
of  organizing  in  your  town  a  collection  of  local  antiquities, 
which  I  felt  sure  would  have  great  historical  interest.  I 
had  a  long  consultation  with  Mr.  Tilton  upon  this  subject, 
and,  perhaps,  I  gave  him  some  encouragement  to  hope 
that  a  memorial  building  might  be  obtained  at  no  very 
distant  day.  Having  committed  myself  to  such  an  enter- 
prise before  it  had  been  even  talked  about  much  by 
others,  I  could  not  refuse  the  kind  request  to  come  and 
bring  a  word  of  congratulation  on  the  completion  of  this 
beautiful  edifice,  which  I  am  delighted  to  find  so  well 
adapted  to  meet  the  various  important  uses  for  which  it 
was  built.  I  do  not  know  what  provision  the  town  is  to 
make  for  its  new  library,  but  if  your  experience  is  any- 
thing like  ours  in  Lexington,  it  will  not  be  long  before  it 
will  be  the  most  popular  thing  in  the  town.  We  began 
in  1868  with  only  a  handful  of  books  and  a  very  small 
fund.  After  a  while,  it  was  proposed  that  the  dog  tax  be 
appropriated  for  the  purchase  of  books.  This  was  will- 
ingly granted,  perhaps  because  nobody  knew  exactly  how 
much  the  dog  tax  was.  It  was  not  much,  to  be  sure,  then, 
but  it  has  gone  on  increasing —  thanks  to  the  dog  craze  — 
and  now  it  amounts  to  several  hundred  dollars  a  year,  a 
very  handsome  fund  for  our  library  which  now  has,  I  am 
h r^ppy  to  say,  ten  thousand  volumes  in  its  catalogue.  I 
have  not  seen  any  clogs  in  Rehoboth  yet,  but  I  presume 
there  are  some,  and  I  advise  you  to  cultivate  them  more 
and  more  and  give  the  library  the  benefit  of  the  tax.  And 
if  perchance  any  one  should  object  to  the  barking,  tell 
him  that  every  bark  means  a  book  and  he  will  complain 
no  longer. 


J  REHQBOTU.  1<>7 

Your  collection  of  relics,  so  well  placed  and  labelled,  is 
a  surprise  to  us  all.  I  can  see  that  some  one  has  been 
very  industrious,  and  I  can  well  imagine  who  it  is.  But 
you  have  not  exhausted  the  resources  of  this  grand  old 
town  in  this  direction.  There  are  many  treasures  stowed 
away  in  garrets,  in  old  chests  and  drawers,  which  are  yet 
to  see  the  light.  Hunt  for  them.  Bring  them  out  from 
their  hiding  places  and  make  them  tell  their  story  —  and 
a  wonderful  story  it  will  be  —  of  the  days  long  gone  by. 
Few  towns  in  New  England  are  as  rich  as  yours  in  ma- 
terials of  this  kind.  Make  the  most  of  them.  They  will 
constitute  no  small  part  of  your  fame.  They  will  serve 
to  educate  your  children  and  inspire  them  with  patriotic 
zeal  to  maintain  the  high  character  and  honorable  achieve- 
ments which  have  been  the  glory  of  the  town. 

I  was  thinking,  in  coming  over  from  Attleboro,  what 
an  advantage  it  is  to  be  ten  miles  from  a  railroad.  You 
can  live  here  in  peace,  as  your  fathers  did,  without  being 
disturbed  by  the  screech  of  the  locomotive  and  the  per- 
petual din  of  passing  trains.  I  have  several  friends  who 
are  suffering  from  nervous  prostration.  They  have  tried 
various  places  without  permanent  benefit.  Evidently  the 
trouble  has  been  that  they  could  not  get  away  from  rail- 
roads. I  shall  advise  them  all  to  move  to  Rehoboth,  where 
I  feel  sure  they  would  gain  rapidly  under  the  favorable 
and  unique  influences  of  the  place.  And  if  I  could  follow 
my  own  inclinations  I  would  come  too  and  enjoy  the 
rational  life  which  one  could  lead  here,  breathing  the  un- 
tainted air,  revelling  in  your  delicious  farm  products,  and 
(think  of  it)  driving  in  all  directions  without  having  to 
cross  a  railroad  !  This  is  a  luxury,  citizens  of  Rehoboth, 
which  I  fear  you  do  not  fully  appreciate.  When  the 
world  finds  it  out,  there  will  be  a  great  demand  for  real 
estate  all  about  here,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  this 


108  UlSTOlilC  IIEUOBOTII. 

attractive  hall.  Your  corner  lots,  gentlemen,  will  then  be 
in  demand.  But  never  let  the  railroad  come  any  nearer. 
If  you  do,  the  Rehoboth  of  the  fathers  will  pass  away. 

I  perceive  in  the  audience  a  goodly  number  of  elderly 
people,  whose  memory  must  run  back  to  the  early  part  of 
the  century.  They  could  relate  to  us  many  interesting 
incidents  of  their  childhood  and  traditions  which  they 
heard  from  their  elders.  May  I  not  ask  that  they  will 
carefully  preserve  in  writing  all  such  facts  and  anecdotes 
as  they  can  recall,  and  give  them  to  this  young  Anti- 
quarian Society,  which  is  so  full  of  life  and  promise. 

I  congratulate  the  president  upon  the  realization  of  his 
long  cherished  anticipations,  and  I  trust  that  his  efforts 
will  be  seconded  by  all  who  have  in  their  power  to  make 
this  society  the  means  of  the  greatest  possible  good  to 
this  whole  community.  And,  in  concluding,  I  beg  to  ex- 
press my  hearty  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this  noble 
gift,  which  Mr.  Goff  has  made  to  his  native  town.  Long 
may  he  live  to  see  the  visible  fruits  of  this  wise  disposi- 
tion of  his  bounty. 

HON.  JOHN  S.  BRAYTON,  OF  FALL   RIVER. 

At  this  point  John  S.  Brayton,  Esq.,  of  Fall  River, 
whose  maternal  ancestors  were  natives  of  Rehoboth,  was 
called  by  the  President  from  the  audience,  and  spoke  sub- 
stantially as  follows  : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  You  well  remember  the  reply  of  Cor- 
nelia, the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  to  that  other  Roman 
matron,  who  had  exhibited  her  own  glittering  treasures 
and  in  return  asked  for  those  of  Cornelia.  She  with  a 
mother's  affection  pointed  to  her  sons  and  proudly  said  : 
"These  are  my  jewels."  Rehoboth  to-day,  after  a  muni- 
cipal existence  which  covers  over  one-half  of  the  period 


ULSTOitKJ  REHOBOTH.  ,    109 

which  has  elapsed  since  the  discovery  of  this  continent, 
the  mother  of  other  municipalities  in  two  distinct  com- 
monwealths, and  with  children  scattered  throughout  the 
entire  country,  points  to  her  sainted,  heroic  and  honored 
dead,  and  to  her  sons  and  daughters  now  living,  and 
proudly  says  :  "These  are  my  jewels." 

Well  may  every  child  of  Rehoboth  cherish  with  filial 
affection  his  birthplace.  Here  the  Christian  scholar, 
Samuel  Newman,  founded  a  town  and  gave  it  its  scriptural 
name.  Here  he  compiled  the  first  concordance  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  which  was  written  upon  this  continent, 
and  which  to-day  forms  the  basis  of  all  modern  concord- 
ances. By  this  he  has  made  a  name  and  a  reputation 
among  Christian  scholars  which  will  last  as  long  as  the 
language  in  which  he  wrote.  Here  John  Myles,  that 
eminent  divine,  established  the  first  Baptist  Church  in 
Massachusetts.  This  church  was  consecrated  by  the 
prayers,  the  tears  and  the  joyous  hopes  of  your  pious  an- 
cestors. The  same  Christian  traits  which  marked  the 
character  of  the  earlier  settlers  have  descended  to  these 
later  days.  More  than  two  hundred  years  after  the 
foundation  of  the  church  here,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lum,  who 
was  one  of  the  predecessors  of  the  President  of  this  occa- 
sion, in  his  sacred  office  of  pastor,  established  the  first 
church  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas. 

Just  outside  the  borders  of  Rehoboth  was  shed  the  first 
blood  in  King  Philip's  war,  and  htre  was  the  scene  of 
that  brilliant  exploit,  the  capture  of  Annawan,  which 
brought  to  a  close  that  most  sanguinary  conflict,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  downfall  of  a  great  Indian  empire.  The 
heroism  displayed  during  these  trying  times  by  the  Rev. 
Noah  Newman,  the  then  pastor  of  the  church,  and  by  the 
yeomanry  of  Rehoboth,  makes  a  record  of  which  their 
descendants  may  well  be  proud,  Many  of  the  earlier 


110 


HISTORIC  liK 


Views  of  the  "Three  Houses''  into  which  History  tells  us  the  settlers  of 
Kdioboth  were  gathered  for  safety  during  King  Phillip's  War. 


•John  Myles'  Garrison;  built  of  stone  and  still  standing  nc:ir  .Myles'  bridge, 
Swansea. 


Bishop  house,  East  Proviilence,  on  site  of  the  Garrison  house,  at  Seekonk 
Common. 


Hatch   h.itisc.   Norili   Attleboro,  jiart  of  "  Woodcock's    Garrison,"   in   the 
^orth  Purchase, 


E18TORIG  JiEUOtiOTH.  Ill 

settlers  of  this  town  were  men  of  note.  Capt.  Thomas 
Willet,  the  successor  of  Miles  Standish,  in  the  command 
of  the  military  company  at  Plymouth,  settled  here  about 
the  year  1660,  and  purchased  of  Wamsntta  a  large  tract 
of  land,  which  was  called  "  Rehoboth  North  Purchase." 
He  afterward  became  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  of 
Swansea,  and  was  also  the  first  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  and  in  the  quaint  language  of  the  day  "  twice  did 
sustain  the  place."  Samson  Mason  was  a  soldier  in  Cromt 
well's  army.  Upon  the  restoration  of  che  House  of  Stuar- 
he  settled  here,  raising  a  family  of  nine  sons,  six  of  whom 
lived  in  Rehoboth  and  Swansea  until  the  youngest  was 
seventy  years  old.  One  of  his  sons,  and  three  of  his 
grandsons,  were  settled  pastors  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  Swansea.  Mr.  Mason  also  subsequently  became  one 
of  the  founders  of  Swansea. 

Here  in  Rehoboth  have  been  nurtured  many  men  of 
letters.  Two  of  the  Presidents  of  Brown  University,  one 
of  whom  addressed  you  this  morning,  were  born  within 
its  limits.  Here,  too,  was  the  birthplace  of  that  distin- 
guished mathematician  and  philosopher,  Benjamin  West, 
upon  whom  the  university  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws,  for  his  valuable  services  in  the  cause  of  science. 
Nathan  Smith,  M.  D.,  the  projector  of  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  Dartmouth  College,  and  who  was  also  a  professor 
at  Yale,  was  born  here.  That  eminent  divine,  Samuel 
Angier,  one  of  the  Board  of  Fellows  of  Harvard  College, 
was  the  third  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Greenwood,  and  he  in  turn  was 
succeeded  by  his  son  John,  a  native  of  the  town,  both  of 
whom  graduated  at  Cambridge.  A  long  line  of  educated 
clergymen  have  ministered  unto  this  people  here,  and 
their  mantle  has  now  fallen  upon  him  who  presides  on 
this  occasion  —  a  graduate  of  Amherst  College  —  one  who 


112  HISTORIC  KEI10KOT11. 

by  his  broad  and  varied  culture,  by  his  zeal  in  his  work, 
and  by  his  fervid  piety  adds  lusture  to  the  ministry  of 
Rehoboth. 

Fifty  years  ago,  Mr.  Leonard  Bliss,  Jr.,  whose  portrait 
hangs  upon  the  walls  in  the  hall  below,  wrote  a  history  of 
his  native  town  of  Rehoboth,  it  being  among  the  earlier 
of  town  histories  published  in  this  commonwealth,  and 
which  reflected  great  credit  upon  its  author.  Upon  their 
ancestral  acres,  in  this  town,  were  born  Abraham  Bland- 
ing,  L.L.  D.,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  South  Carolina,  the 
originator  of  that  great  interstate  enterprise  of  construct- 
ing a  railroad  between  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  Cincinnati, 
O.;  William  Blanding,  M.  D.,  the  noted  naturalist  whose" 
extensive  collection  in  natural  history  is  now  at  Brown 
University,  where  both  graduated,  and  their  brother 
James  Blanding  (the  father  of  the  treasurer  of  the  Anti- 
quarian Society),  a  life  long  citizen,  who  for  neatly  a  third 
of  a  century  was  the  clerk  of  the  town,  and  who  by  his 
sterling  integrity  and  high  character  left  behind  him  a 
cherished  memory. 

Rehoboth  has  given  to  the  country  many  eminent  phy- 
sicians. Here  were  born  those  two  brothers,  Nathaniel 
and  Caleb  Miller,  who  were  foremost  among  the  distin- 
guished physicians  aud  surgeons  of  their  day,  and  whose 
reputations  were  as  wide  as  their  country.  If  time  were 
allowed  I  would  speak  of  others,  born  here,  who  in  this 
and  other  states  have  upheld  and  honored  the  medical 
profession. 

Thus  we  see  that  Rehoboth,  in  scholarship,  culture,  and 
in  the  high  professional  attainments  of  her  sons,  will  com- 
pare favorably  with  any  sister  town.  The  sons  of  Reho- 
both, who  now  reside  in  the  town,  pursue  to  a  great  ex- 
tent the  avocation  of  their  fathers.  There  are  few  towns 
in  which  so  many  farms  are  tilled  by  the  lineal  descendents 


BISTOSIC  HE  no  no  TIL  m 

of  the  original  settlers  ;  some  of  these  farms  are  now  cul- 
tivated by  the  sixth  generation. 

Within  the  original  limits  of  this  ancient  town,  at  Paw- 
tucket,  Mr.  Samuel  Slater  built  a  factory,  which  is  said  to 
be  the  first  erected  in  the  country  for  the  spinning  of 
cotton.  In  examining  this  morning  the  interesting  col- 
lection of  antiquities  in  the  hall  below,  I  noticed  the 
letters  patent  which  were  granted  to  Mr.  Dexter  Wheeler 
for  an  improvement  in  tide  mills.  This  document  was 
issued  in  1811  and  bears  the  signature  of  James  Madison^ 
the  then  President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Wheeler 
was  born  in  this  town,  as  were  his  ancestors.  He  was  a 
machinist  and  a  manufacturer  of  rare  skill  for  those  early 
days.  In  1807  he  ran  a  mill  here,  by  horse  power,  for 
the  spinning  of  cotton  yarn.  In  1813  Mr.  Wheeler  and 
Mr.  Anthony,  who  was  then  residing  here,  and  whose 
mother  was  a  native  of  the  town,  and  who  had  been  in 
the  employ  of  Mr.  Slater  for  four  years,  went  to  Fall 
River  and  built,  filled  with  machinery,  and  set  in  opera- 
tion (what  is  now  the  Fall  River  Manufactory),  the  first 
mill  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  erected  in  that 
city.  One-fourth  of  the  capital  of  the  company  was  owned 
by  citizens  of  Rehoboth.  Almost  contemporaneous  with 
this  event  the  "  Troy  Cotton  and  Woolen  Manufactory" 
was  established,  in  which  enterprise  Mr.  Nathaniel  Wheeler, 
another  of  your  citizens,  took  an  active  part.  From  these 
beginnings  have  arisen  in  that  city  those  colossal  mills, 
whose  aggregate  spindles  exceed  in  number  that  of  any 
other  city  in  America. 

There  have  gone  out  from  here  skillful  mechanics,  in- 
telligent business  men  and  successful  manufacturers  —  the 
Goffs,  the  Bakers,  the  Marvels,  the  Hortons,  the  Earls, 
the  Carpenters,  the  Pierces,  the  Pecks,  the  Blisses,  the 
Blanclings,  the  Wheelers,  the  Perrys,  and  many  others, 


iu 

who  have  been  potent  factors  in  building  up  the  cities 
which  surround  Rehoboth.  One  such  of  her  sons  has 
built  this  Hall  which  we  to-day  dedicate.  By  this  gener- 
ous act  he  has  raised  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellow  citizens  a 
monument  more  lasting  than  the  stately  pile  which  he  has 
erected.  And  I  know  you  will  all  unite  with  me,  upon 
this  his  seventieth  birthday,  in  the  invocation  of  Horace 
to  Augustus  — 

Serus  in  coelum  redeas,  diuque  laeto  intersis  populo. 


EX-GOVERNOR  LITTLEFIELD,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND. 

I  would  not  forget  that  I  am  in  the  good  old  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts,  and  within  the  bounds  of  the 
ancient  town  of  Rehoboth. 

After  listening  with  the  deepest  interest  to  the  eloquent 
address  of  the  orator  of  the  day  and  other  gentlemen  who 
have  told  us  what  this  town  was  and  is  at  present,  I  am 
reminded  of  attending,  a  few  years  ago,  the  twelfth  annual 
reunion  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford, in  our  sister  State  of  Connecticut.  On  that  occasion 
many  distinguished  generals  were  present.  At  the  grand 
banquet  given  in  the  evening  a  number  of  sentiments 
were  offered  and  responded  to.  Among  the  number  was 
this  one,  "  Our  Country,"  to  which  a  citizen  of  Rhode 
Island  was  called  upon  to  speak.  He  commenced  his  short 
address  by  saying  it  was  both  fitting  and  appropriate  that 
Rhode  Island  should  be  asked  to  respond  to  this  senti- 
ment, for  without  Rhode  Island  our  country  would  be  very 
small,  both  in  territory  and  population.  So,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, I  may  be  allowed  to  say  on  this  occasion,  after  learn- 
ing how  large  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island  was  taken  from  the  town  of  Rehoboth,  had 
it  not  been  for  this  town,  Rhode  Island  must  have'  been 


-  n K n o n <> ru.  \ i :, 

looked  upon  as  a  small  state,  and  somewhat  limited  both 
in  broad  acres  and  in  the  number  of  her  honorable 
citizens. 

As  I  look  around  me  to-day,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  nearly  all  of  my  distinguished  fellow  citizens 
first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  this  goodly  town.  I  con- 
gratulate the  people  of  this  old  town  upon  its  honorable 
history ;  I  congratulate  them  in  having  this  beautiful  hall 
in  which  they  may  gather  from  time  to  time  and  look  upon 
so  many  relics  of  past  generations  ;  I  congratulate  you, 
Mr.  President,  that  your  Society  has  such  pleasant  rooms 
in  which  to  hold  its  meetings  and  to  deposit  the  antique 
articles  you  shall  gather  in  the  days  to  come,  and  add  to 
the  already  large  collection' of  the  Rehobcth  Antiquarian 
Society. 

I  am  sure,  Mr.  President,  you  would  not  have  us  under- 
stand from  the  interest  your  Society  has  taken  in  the 
dedication  of  this  hall,  that  you  think  the  gentleman  to 
whom  the  citizens  of  Rehoboth  are  so  largely  indebted 
for  this  building,  shows  any  signs  of  being  antiquated. 
We  look  upon  him  in  the  new  city  of  Pawtucket  as  a 
young  man.  No  citizen  can  be  found  more  ready  for  any 
new  enterprise  that  shall  build  up  the  business  of  the  city 
than  the  Hon.  Darius  Goff.  What  he  has  done  for  his 
native  town  may  be  but  a  beginning  of  what  he  may  do  in 
the  days  to  come. 

I  join  most  heartily  in  all  that  has  been  said  in  praise 
of  this  old-time  town  to-day.  I  do  not  see  my  friend  from 
Boston.  I  am  sorry  he  has  been  obliged  to  leave  the 
hall.  However,  I  feel  safe  in  assuring  you  that  it  will  be 
but  a  short  time  before  he  will  remove  the  office  of  publi- 
cation of  the  Educational  Journal,  over  which  he  presides 
with  such  maked  ability,  from  Boston  to  Rehoboth,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  the  President  of  Brown  University  will 


Hi;  IIISTOIIW  7,' A7/0//0 y//. 

commence  farming  in  Rehoboth  soon  after  that  institu- 
tion is  closed.  The  Reverend  gentleman  from  the  historic 
town  of  Lexington  has  told  us  how  much  he  has  enjoyed 
staying  here,  and  I  am  sure  he  will  soon  make  this  town 
his  home.  In  view  of  the  prospective  demand  for  land  I 
would  advise  the  farmers  to  advance  the  price  of  corner 
lots.  I  do  not  think  I  should  like  farming  after  learning 
from  one  of  the  speakers  this  morning  that  the  regular 
hours  of  labor  were  from  four  in  the  morning  till  nine 
in  the  evening.  I  do  not  enjoy  early  rising  or  many  hours 
of  labor.  Mr.  President,  I  am  very  glad  to  be  with  you 
to-day.  It  has  been  a  most  delightful  occasion.  The 
descendants  of  the  founders  of  this  town,  gathered  here 
to  day,  have  a  right  to  feel  proud  of  her  more  than  t\vo 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  honorable  history.  "He  called 
the  name  of  it  Rehoboth,  and  he  said,  for  now  the  Lord 
hath  made  room  for  us,  and  we  shall  be  fruitful  in  the 
land." 

As  my  closing:  word,  pardon  me  for  saying  in  this  pre- 
sence, that  Roger  Williams  passed  this  way  as  he  jour- 
nied  on  to  settle  the  first  state  founded  on  the  enduring 
principles  of  soul  liberty. 


REV.   S.    L    WOODWORTH,  OF   EAST   PROVIDENCE. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AXD  GENTLEMEX. — This  is  a 
great  day  for  ministers.  I  am  proud  to  be  a  successor  of 
Rev.  Samuel  Newman.  This  is  glory  enough  for  one  day. 
There  is  one  trouble ;  .you  have  set  a  bad  example. 
Every  pastor  will  now  want  a  memorial  hall.  I  think  I 
shall  have  a  memorial  annex  to  our  chapel  at  Luther's 
Corners,  in  Seekonk  ;  one  hears  many  kind  words  spoken 
in  his  praise,  besides  having  his  picture  hung  up  in  the 
hall. 


117 

I  am  glad  for  the  good  words  spoken  of  my  Urolhcr 
Tilton  ;  he  deserves  every  one  of  them ;  he  is  not  the 
kind  of  a  man  to  be  puffed  up  by  deserving  words  of 
praise ;  they  won't  hurt  him  one  bit.  I  have  summered 
and  wintered  with  him  ;  I  know  the  kind  of  material  he  is 
made  of.  He  is  a  true  man,  and  worthy  of  every  word 
that  has  been  spoken.  It  will  be  a  consolation  to  him,  in 
the  weary,  discouraging  hours  of  his  pastorate,  to  think  of 
this  day,  with  all  its  precious  memories.  His  joy  is  my 
joy.  It  is  net  all  so  pleasant  and  easy  to  be  a  country 
pastor  as  it  may  seem  ;  there  are  many  discouragements, 
many  cold,  hard  rides  in  winter.  The  people  are  not  given 
to  over  much  enthusiasm  in  the  Lord's  work.  They  are 
perfectly  willing  that  the  pastor  should  do  it  all. 

While  you  have  been  rejoicing  over  this  beautiful  new 
building,  I  have  been  thinking  of  Seekonk.  She  has  been 
robbed  until  only  a  narrow  strip  of  land  remains.  If  she 
has  not  fallen  among  thieves,  she  has  among  barn  burn- 
ers. Without  a  town  hall,  without  a  meeting  house  for 
her  people,  as  our  friend  Thomas  Potter  says,  "  Her  people 
must  go  to  East  Providence  for  her  rum,  religion  and 
clams."  Soon  she  must  look  elsewhere  for  her  rum. 
Some  things  have  happened  in  Rhode  Island  lately  ;  the 
people  have  been  heard  from.  After  the  ist  of  July  the 
saloon  must  go.  We  think  that  it  is  time  Seekonk  had 
some  religious  privileges  of  her  own.  Some  of  us  are 
trying  to  build  a  chapel  at  Luther's  Corners  for  the 
people.  If  some  one  will  give  us  a  thousand  dollars  to 
enable  us  to  complete  it,  we  will  have  his  picture  painted 
and  hung  up  in  the  building.  It  will  be  an  oil  painting, 
too,  and  not  a  crayon. 

I  am  asked  to  make  a  five  minute  speech  on  "  Old 
Rehoboth."  Why,  the  last  time  I  had  anything  to  say  on 
this  subject  I  spoke  for  four  hours,  and  then  did  not  use 


II? 

up  half  of  my  material.  One  thing  is  certain;  I  have 
something  to  exhibit  here  to-day  that  no  one  else  can  pro- 
duce. Reference  has  been  made  to  the  Newman  Con- 
cordance ;  here  is  a  copy  of  that  concordance,  prepared  by 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Newman,  in  part  by  the  light  of  pine 
knots,  in  "Old  Rehoboth." 

When  in  London,  at  the  British  Museum,  I  found  a  per- 
fect copy  of  the  Newman  Concordance.  I  also  examined 
the  concordances  that  had  preceded  Newman's.  I  found 
only  two  had  been  published  before  this  one,  and  they 
were  pigmies  compared  to  Newman's  ;  one  was  in  Latin, 
the  other  was  in  English,  and  was  prepared  by  John  Mor- 
beck  and  published  in  1550.  This  was  the  first  English 
concordance  to  the  whole  Bible.  The  references  were 
only  to  chapters,  and  was  far  from  being  as  complete  as 
Newman's.  The  Newman  is,  as  it  is  called  in  the  preface, 
"a  large  and  complete  concordance  of  the  whole  Bible," 
and  was  published  in  1658.  I  find  that  it  is  more  com- 
plete in  some  respects  than  those  published  to-day.  The 
copy  in  my  hand  is  one  I  found  in  Ohio  last  summer. 

I  was  visiting  an  uncle  in  the  town  of  Colebrook,  Ohio. 
He  lived  back  in  an  out  of  the  way  place,  almost  in  the 
woods.  Coming  into  the  parlor  my  wife  called  my  atten- 
tion to  an  old  book  on  an  organ  stool.  It  was  used  by  the 
children  to  sit  on,  while  they  played  the  organ.  I  saw  at 
once  that  it  was  a  well  preserved  copy  of  Newman's  Con- 
cordance. With  fear  and  trembling  I  took  it  to  the  owner, 
and  asked  him  if  that  book  was  of  any  special  value  to  him. 
He  said  it  was  not.  I  said  :  "  I  know  of  a  place  where 
that  book  would  be  of  very  great  value  ;  I  am  the  succes- 
sor of  the  man  who  wrote  it  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
years  ago,  in  the  town  of  Rehoboth,  now  East  Providence- 
The  people  clown  there  \\culd  ccr.sider  it  a  gicat  prize.' 
He  took  the  book  out  of  the  room,  and  after  a  brief  con- 


ins  TOP  ic  KEiiono  TIL  1 1 9 

saltation  with  his  wife,  he  came  in  and  said  :  "  You  can 
have  that  book."  I  did  not  jump  up  to  the  ceiling  in  my 
joy,  but  for  a  few  minutes  I  was  the  happiest  man  in 
Ohio.  This  is  a  more  perfect  copy  chan  the  one  once 
owned  by  Samuel  Newman,  and  now  in  possession  of  our 
church.  This  one  is  in  the  original  binding,  while  that 
is  not.  This  copy  was  brought  from  England  in  July, 
1830,  by  Rev.  William  Allen  and  wife.  They  settled  in 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  afterwards  in  Wayne,  Ohio,  where  he 
preached,  but  soon  died,  leaving  two  sons.  His  widow 
afterwards  was  married  to  my  grandfather.  The  eldest 
son,  William  Allen,  received  this  book  and  afterwards 
gave  it  to  me.  You  can  imagine  that  I  feel  rich. 

This  other  relic  is  the  well  known  King  Philip  chair, 
one  of  the  most  important  antiquarian  remains  connected 
with  the  history  of  this  section.  It  was  owned  by  the 
Abel  family,  who  lived  on  the  Seekonk  plain  in  the  days 
of  Philip.  Before  the  war,  in  which  he  was  so  conspicuous, 
he  used  to  visit  this  family,  and  this  large  chair  was  the 
one  he  satjn.  When  the  "  Ring  of  the  Town  "  was  burned, 
this  chair  was  brought  out  of  the  Abel  house  and  occu- 
pied by  Philip  while  the  house  was  burning.  A  fire  brand 
was  thrown  into  the  bottom  of  the  chair  when  the  Indians 
went  away.  The  bottom  and  four  rounds  that  it  was 
fastened  to  were  burned.  The  marks  of  the  fire  can  be 
plainly  seen  in  the  four  legs  of  the  chair.  After  the  fire, 
four  rough  rounds  were  hewed  out  and  put  in  place  of 
those  burned.  The  chair  remained  in  the  possession  of 
the  Abel  family  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  it  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  late  Dr.  George  Mason,  of  Providence. 
After  his  death  his  effects  were  sold  at  auction.  I  bought 
this  chair  at  that  auction.  It  was  in  a  dilapidated  condi- 
tion, and  held  together  by  old  ropes  ;  it  would  not  stand 
alone  when  they  were  taken  off. 


120  HISTORIC  K 

I  have  worked  a  good  many  hours  on  that  old  chair, 
brightening  it  up  and  making  the  weak  places  strong.  It 
seems  like  one  of  the  family  ;  I  know  every  worm  hole 
and  crack  in  it.  You  will  find  a  picture  of  this  identical 
chair  in  Bryant's  History  of  the  United  States,  volume 
II.  Three  rounds  are  missing  there,  that  I  have  supplied 
in  the  chair  as  it  stands.  The  left  arm  was  taken  from  an 
oak  beam  that  was  in  University  Hall,  of  Providence,  and 
is  about  1 15  years  old. 

The  V  in  the  cushion,  with  a  dot  over  it,  is  a  copy  of 
the  signature  of  Philip  to  the  original  deed.  I  think  a 
great  deal  of  this  chair  ;  I  regard  it  as  a  very  valuable  his-  > 
torical  curiosity.  I  know  you  want  it  for  your  Memorial 
Hall.  Mr.  Porter  tells  me  that  the  proper  p'ace  for  it  is 
in  the  fire  proof  historical  rooms  of  Boston.  He  would 
like  to  take  it  there.  I  know  that  I  want  it.  Of  late  I 
have  made  a  very  practical  use  of  it  ;  I  marry  people  in 
front  of  that  chair,  giving  them  a  little  history  of  it.  They 
feel  quite  honored.  Since  I  began  this  practice  there  has 
been  a  perfect  rush  of  weddings  to  the  parsonage.  Mrs. 
Woodworth  is  the  happiest  woman  in  town.  I  know  you 
would  not  be  so  cruel  as  to  deprive  us  of  that  chair  r.nd  a 
large  share  of  our  income. 

I  have  enjoyed  the  day  exceedingly  ;  I  congratulate  you 
on  its  success;  I  trust  your  beautiful  hall  will  prove  a 
great  blessing  to  the  town. 


HON.  HENRY  B.  METCALF,  OF  PAWTUCKET. 

Hon.  Henry  B.  Metcalf  replied  to  a  call  for  a  speech 
substantially  as  follows  : 

He  said  that  although  the  call  to  speak  was  entirely 
unexpected,  he  was  not  altogether  sorry  that  he  had  the 
opportunity  to  make  public  correction  of  the  somewhat 


HISTORIC  REHOBOTH.  121 

popular  fallacy  that  ministers  were  usually  not  apt  in  what 
we  call  business  shrewdness.  The  gentleman  who  had 
just  taken  his  seat  had,  by  the  narrative  of  his  acquire- 
ment of  antiquarian  treasures,  given  abundant  evidence 
that  there  was,  at  least,  one  parson  who  didn't  need  any 
guardian  in  secular  affairs.  His  device  of  making  it 
attractive  to  young  people  to  come  to  him  to  get  married 
by  permitting  the  bride  to  sit  in  the  antique  arm  chair, 
would  do  credit  even  to  a  political  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Mr.  Metcalf,  in  commending  the  dedicatory  oration,  re- 
ferred especially  to  its  happy  presentation  of  the  three- 
fold provision  of  the  Goff  Memorial  Building  in  behalf  of 
good  citizenship  :  First,  in  perpetuating  the  instructive 
memories  of  the  past  through  its  Antiquarian  Department ; 
second,  in  contemplating  discussion  of  present  duty  in  its 
hall  for  the  convenience  of  general  assemblage  of  citizens, 
and,  third,  in  providing  for  the  education  of  the  citizen  of 
the  future,  by  its  school  room  and  library  room.  He  con- 
gratulated the  venerable  benefactor,  seated  by  his  side, 
that  he  had  secured  for  himself  the  pleasure  of  witnessing 
the  fruits  of  his  generosity  by  making  himself  his  own 
executor. 


SEN.  GEORGE  N.  BLISS,  ESQ.,  OF  EAST  PROVIDENCE. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — The  chairman  said  the 
speakers  would  be  allowed  only  five  minutes  each.  He 
is  a  minister  and  I  have  always  found  the  profession,  of 
which  he  is  so  bright  an  ornament,  reckless  in  disregard 
of  rules  and  orders.  The  five-minute  rule  was  observed 
until  a  minister  was  called  upon,  and  then  it  ceased  to 
have  any  binding  force,  but  as  I  am  a  lawyer  I  propose  to 
obey  the  law  and  take  my  seat  when  my  five  minutes 
expire. 


1  ->-2  HIS  TOKIC  HE  HOB  0  Til. 

As  a  lineal  descendant  of  that  Thomas  Bliss  who  came 
here  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Samuel  Newman,  in 
1644,  I  take  great  interest  in  the  work  so  fitly  crowned 
here  to-day.  New  England  has  reason  to  be  proud  of 
such  towns  as  Rehoboth.  An  incident  from  my  own  ex- 
perience may  show  you  how  it  looks  to  one  "  not  to  the 
manor  born."  It  was  my  fortune  during  the  late  rebel- 
lion to  come,  while  wounded  and  a  prisoner,  under  the 
charge  of  J.  S.  Davis,  M.  D.,  then  professor  of  anatomy 
and  materia  medica  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  the 
friendship  then  formed  between  foes  in  war  terminated 
only  with  his  death. 

In  1 880  a  gentleman  from  Alabama,  who  had  entered 
the  Confederate  service  as  a  Lieutenant  at  Bull  Run,  and 
who  was  three  times  wounded  in  battle,  bore  when  peace 
came  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General,  came  to  me  with  a  let- 
ter of  introduction  from  Dr.  Davis.  I  had  known  "  that 
stern  joy  which  warriors  feel  in  foemen  worthy  of  their 
steel,"  and  with  pleasure  took  him  to  see  the  varied  indus- 
tries and  wonderful  machines  of  my  native  state.  After 
a  day  thus  spent  he  asked,  "  What  is  your  population  ?  " 
and  surprised  at  the  small  number  he  replied,  "  Well,  it 
may  be  that  in  figures,  but  you  have  so  organized  indus- 
try here  that  you  count  for  at  least  a  million." 

I  went  with  him  to  Bristol  to  attend  the  celebration  of 
the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  its  settlement,  and  as  we 
walked  through  the  crowded  streets  I  noticed  he  was  look- 
ing in  all  directions  as  though  in  search  of  something.  At 
last  he  said  :  "  This  is  the  most  extraordinary  thing  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life ;  here  are  thousands  of  people  out  foi  a 
holiday,  all  well  dressed,  smiling  and  happy,  and  not  a 
single  man  drunk ;  why,  if  it  had  been  in  my  State  I 
should  have  seen  half  a  dozen  drunken  fights  by  this 
time."  This  Southern  gentleman  said  to  me :  "When  I 


HISTORIC  EEUOBOTH.  123 

came  to  New  England  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  ex- 
pected to  find  an  entirely  distinct  species  of  mankind,  but 
I  find  we  are  a  homogeneous  people."  From  Rhode 
Island  he  went  to  Boston  and  after  three  week's  experi- 
ence of  the  hospitality,  in  which  Massachusetts  is  exceeded 
by  no  other  State,  he  said  to  me :  "  Captain,  I  love  Boston  ; 
I  would  defend  Boston  against  an  attack  in  any  part  of 
the  world." 

Do  you  not  join  with  me  in  saying  that  that  rebel  had 
been  thoroughly  reconstructed  and  that  to  thus  conquer 
the  prejudices  and  training  of  a  life  time  by  a  residence  of 
a  few  weeks  among  the  Yankees  is  the  highest  tribute 
that  could  be  paid  to  the  New  England  civilization,  which 
has  given  Rehoboth  a  proud  position  in  the  history  of 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island. 


•DEACON  JOSEPH  BROWN,  OF  SEEKONK. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  It  is  unexpected  to  me  that 
I  am  called  upon,  but  I  should  not  do  justice  to  myself  if 
I  did  not  express  the  pleasure  it  gives  me  in  being  present 
on  this  occasion.  I  am  not  a  citizen  of  Rehoboth,  but 
have  always  resided  within  the  limits  of  Ancient  Reho- 
both, and  as  my  ancestors  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
this  town,  whatever  pertains  to  the  history  of  Ancient 
Rehoboth  specially  interests  me. 

I  most  heartily  congratulate  the  inhabitants  of  this  town 
on  the  erection  of  this  building,  which  is  an  honor  to  the 
town  and  to  those  individuals  who  so  generously  contri- 
buted to  its  erection.  It  is  well  that  some  such  building 
as  this  should  be  erected,  where  the  relics  of  the  past,  and 
ancient  papers,  can  be  deposited,  cared  for,  and  preserved. 
It  is  well  for  us  occasionally  to  review  the  events  of  the 


124  HISTORIC  llEHOBOTll. 

past,  that  we  may  more  fully  appreciate  the  toils,  suffer- 
ings, privations  and  perseverance  of  the  early  settlers  of 
these  colonies. 

Rehoboth  has  a  history  of  which  its  inhabitants  may 
well  be  proud.  Very  soon  after  the  settlement  of  the 
town,  King  Philip's  war  commenced,  and  as  his  residence 
was  in  the  vicinity  of  this  town,  perhaps  Rehoboth  suffered 
as  much,  or  more,  than  any  other  town  in  the  colony.  The 
central  part  of  the  town,  afterward  Seekonk,  and  now  East 
Providence,  was  burned,  the  bloodiest  battle  of  the  war 
was  fought  within  its  borders,  and  Philip's  greatest  chief- 
tain surrendered  but  a  short  distance  from  where  we  are 
now  assembled.  During  the  French  and  Indian  war,  Reho- 
both contributed  her  quota  of  soldiers.  We  felt  that  the  call 
upon  us  during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  was  great,  but  it 
was  not  equal  to  the  call  made  on  our  fathers  during  the 
war  of  the  Revolution. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  war  lasted  seven  years,  and 
often  calls  were  made  for  men  equipped  for  service.  I 
find  by  ancient  papers,  I  have  in  my  possession,  that  in 
some  cases  they  paid  as  large  or  larger  bounties  for  re- 
cruits, than  were  paid  durii.g  the  late  war.  In  some 
instances  they  paid  as  high  as  two  thousand  dollars.  (Here 
an  original  receipt  was  read  for  that  amount  for  enlisting 
into  the  service),  which  is  an  evidence  of  the  depreciation 
of  the  currency,  a  difficulty  they  had  to  contend  with  at 
that  time.  The  regiment  under  Col.  Carpenter  of  Reho- 
both was  the  first  engaged  in  the  battle  on  Rhode  Island. 
In  the  year  1812,  the  town  was  divided  by  a  northerly  and 
southerly  line,  and  the  western  part  was  incorporated 
under  the  name  of  Seekonk,  so  that  Rehoboth  and  Seekonk 
have  a  common  history  prior  to  that  time. 

I  have  in  my  possession  these  ancient  papers:  The 
ancient  Muster  Roll  of  the  company  in  the  western  part  of 


HISTORIC  RE  HO  BOTH.  125 

the  town,  belonging  to  Col. Thomas  Carpenter's  regiment; 
the  List  of  men  drafted  to  defend  Rowland's  Ferry,and  Pay 
Roll  for  the  same;  and  original  ancient  Receipts  given  by 
individuals  for  enlisting  into  the  continental  service  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  war,  which  I  now  present  to  this 
Antiquarian  Society,  and  have  also  others  loaned,  which, 
when  I  shall  obtain  them,  I  intend  also  to  deposit  with 
you. 


REV.  LEANDER  THOMPSON  OF  NORTH  WOBURN. 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  REHOBOTH  ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY: 
I  am  here  to-day  in  response  to  a  very  kind  invitation  of 
my  old  friend,  your  president,  and  I  enjoy  listening  to 
others  far  more  than  I  could  enjoy  speaking.  I  come  from 
an  old  town,  originally  a  part  of  Charlestown,  but  having 
a  municipal  history  of  its  own  going  back  to  1642,  a  little 
earlier,  if  I  mistake  not,  than  the  date  of  your  own  ancient 
town. 

In  1753,  one  hundred  and  eleven  years  after  the  incor- 
poration of  Woburn,  there  was  born  near  the  homes  of  my 
ancestors  and  related  to  my  own  family,  Benjamin  Thomp- 
son, since  widely  known  throughout  the  civilized  world  as 
Count  Rumford,  the  greatest  scientist  of  his  age,  and  one 
of  the  greatest  of  any  age.  In  1876,  a  few  persons  were 
specially  impressed  with  the  desirableness  of  resuing  from 
threatening  ruin,  the  old  but  still  substantial  house  in 
which  this  illustrious  man  had  his  first  home.  They  had 
thought  and  talked  about  it  for  several  years,  but  at  this 
time,  there  were  concurring  circumstances,  which  contrib- 
uted largely  to  give  definite  shape  to  their  hitherto  some- 
what vague  wishes.  Through  the  persevering  efforts  of  a 
few  men,  money  sufficient  to  purchase  the  estate  was 


126  HISTORIC  KEHOBOTH. 

raised,  the  Rumford  Historical  Society  was  organized,  and 
in  1877,  was  incorporated  under  that  name.  In  the  words 
of  Article  II  of  the  Constitution  : 

'"The  object  of  this  corporation  shall  be  to  hold  and  preserve  a  certain 
lot  of  land,  with  the  buildings  situated  thereon,  in  Woburn,  known  as 
the  birth-place  of  Benjamin  Thompson,  or  Count  Kumford;  also  to  col- 
lect and  preserve  for  exhibition  or  use,  books,  manuscripts,  objects  of 
antiquarian  interest,  and  whatever  may  illustrate  the  life  and  times,  and 
perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  distinguished  man  whose  title  is  promi- 
nently associated  with  our  organization." 

In  accordance  with  this  object,  the  old  mansion  has 
been  extensively  repaired  and  the  grounds,  to  some  ex- 
tent, put  in  order,  though  in  no  case  has  the  antique  style 
and  appearance  of  anything,  without  or  within,  been 
changed.  In  the  large  old  fashioned  lower  room  where 
the  Count  was  born,  we  have  a  free  library,  called  the 
Rumford  Library,  and  containing  a  choice  collection  of 
nearly  1,600  volumes.  And  in  that  room,  we  have  our 
regular  meetings.  In  the  same  room,  to  some  extent,  and 
elsewhere  to  a  larger  extent,  we  have  a  constantly  increas- 
ing collection  of  relics  of  the  olden  time,  some  of  which 
illustrate  especially  the  life  and  times  of  Rumford  and  of 
those  with  whom  he  was  associated.  We  have  an  album 
for  visitors'  names  and  a  book  of  biographical  sketches, 
more  or  less  extended,  of  all  deceased  members  of  our 
Association.  Besides  these  papers,  many  others  have  at 
different  times  been  concributed  upon  the  early  and  espe- 
cially the  Revolutionery  history  of  our  town.  Some  of 
these  papers  have  been  published  by  our  local  press; 
others  are  preserved  in  manuscript  among  our  treasures. 
We  have  members  scattered  through  the  United  States, 
in  Canada,  and  in  England;  and  we  strongly  hope  that  in 
the  future  we  shall  accomplish  far  more  than  has  been 
possible  in  the  nine  years  of  our  past  history, 


HISTORIC  JlETIOBOTfl.  127 

As  an  honorary  and  corresponding  member  of  the 
Winchester  Historical  and  Genealogical  Society,  I 
may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  add  a  few  words.  For  more 
than  200  years,  the  present  town  of  Winchester  was  a 
part  of  Woburn,  and  its  history  was  of  course  identical 
with  that  of  Woburn.  Two  years  ago,  some  of  the  leading 
men  of  this  new  and  enterprising  town  organized  a  society 
whose  objects  are  indicated  by  its  name.  During  the  less 
than  two  years  of  its  existence,  the  society  has  accom- 
plished wonders  in  the  way  of  research,  bringing  to  light 
old  and  forgotten  papers,  records  and  scraps  of  important 
h:story,  reducing  all  discoveries  to  writing  and  carefully 
preserving  every  item  for  future  use  in  a  more  complete 
history  of  Woburn  in  former  days,  and  of  Winchester 
since  1850,  than  has  existed  or  been  thought  possible. 
Many  of  these  valuable  papers  have  been  published  in  the 
"Winchester  Record,"  a  quarterly  magazine  published  by 
the  society,  and  containing  on  an  average  not  far  from  one 
hundred  pages  in  each  number.  A  considerable  number 
of  the  articles  thus  published  are  biographical  sketches  of 
the  first  settlers  of  the  old  town  of  Woburn,  nearly  all  of 
whom  had  been  also  among  the  early  settlers  of  Charles- 
town,  and  some  of  them  belonging  to  the  large  and  famous 
Colony  led  by  Gov.  Winthrop  in  1630. 

But  I  am  consuming  too  much  time.  As  a  member  of 
both  the  kindred  societies  I  have  mentioned,  I  am  happy 
to  express  to  the  Antiquarian  Society  of  this  old  and  his- 
toric town  my  hearty  greetings  and  congratulations.  I  am 
both  surprised  and  delighted  to  see  what  a  beginning  you 
have  made.  Your  antiquarian  collection  far  exceeds,  in 
the  number  and  value  of  its  articles,  many  that  are  much 
older.  At  an  early  day,  I  should  like  to  read  a  printed 
catalogue  of  these  articles,  and  I  am  sure  that  even  the 
reading  of  the  lists  with  brief  descriptions,  will  be  deeply 


128  HISTORIC 


interesting  to  not  a  few  beside  your  own  citizens.  And  then 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  of  all,  do  I  congratulate  you 
on  being  the  possessors  of  this  new,  commodious  and  every 
way  admirable  Goff  Memorial  Hall. 


A  WORD  FROM  MR.  GOFF. 

Mr.  Darius  Goff,  to  whom  so  many  pleasant  references 
had  been  made  during  the  day,  was  called  for  by  general 
acclamation  as  the  exercises  were  closing.  He  rose  and 
with  evident  feeling  said  : 

"I  am  not  a  man  of  many  words;  actions  are  easier  for 
me.  I  will  only  say  to  audience  and  speakers — If  you 
have  enjoyed  dedicating  this  hall  as  much  as  I  enjoyed 
contributing  to  it,  the  occasion  has  been  a  very  happy  one 
for  you  all.  I  would  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the 
more  than  liberal  share  of  appreciation  which  it  has  been 
my  fortune  to  receive." 


In 


It  was  with  a  feeling  of  profound  satisfaction  that  the 
audience  turned  homeward.  Important  as  the  work  of 
dedication  appeared  to  all  lovers  of  Rehoboth,  and  to  any 
who  regarded  the  event  from  an  antiquarian  point  of  view, 
the  exercises  left  nothing  either  for  local  pride  or  histori- 
cal criticism  to  demand.  The  occasion  marks  an  era  in 
Rehoboth  history.  The  erection  of  such  a  beautiful 
Memorial ;  the  utterances  of  the  distinguished  men  at  its 
dedication  ;  the  contribution  to  Rehoboth  history  made  by 
the  complete  and  accurate  record  of  this  volume,  all  will 
serve  to  win  for  Rehoboth  a  rightful  recognition  as  one 
of  the  most  historic  places  in  the  Old  Bay  State.  As  the 
names  of  John  Myles,  Samuel  Newman,  William  Black- 
stone,  Thomas  Willett  and  others  become  properly  iden- 
tified with  its  history;  as  the  careers  of  its  sons  in  letters, 
arms,  science  and  jurisprudence  become  better  known, 
men  will  be  as  proud  to  trace  their  lineage  to  Historic 
Rehoboth  as  to  name  the  revered  Plymouth  or  far-famed 
Lexington  as  their  birth-place. 

Indeed,  Rehoboth  holds  as  distinguished  a  relation  to 
the  annals  of  Indian  warfare,  as  Plymouth  to  the  inception 
of  the  colonies,or  Lexington  to  the  Revolutionary  struggle. 
It  was  the  frontier  town  during  King  Philip's  war.  The 
first  blood  of  a  contest  which  menaced  the  very  life,  and 


130  HISTORIC 

not  alone  the  liberty  of  the-colonies,  was  shed  in  its  origi- 
nal boundaries,  while  within  its  present  limits,  the  last 
triumphant  strategy  of  that  struggle  was  consummated.  If 
to  stand  on  the  confines  of  savage  territory  and  defend  the 
hearths  and  homes  that  lie  behind  is  patriotism,  Myles' 
Bridge  is  as  truly  historic  ground  as  Lexington  Common. 
Standing  as  the  narrative  of  these  pages  does,  midway 
between  the  Ancient  Rehoboth  that  was  and  the  New 
Rehoboth  that  is  to  be,  it  aims  to  inspire  reverance  for 
the  one  and  aspiration  for  the  other.  May  we,  its  readers, 
appreciate  the  measure  of  responsibility  which  rests  upon 
us,  and  to  our  fidelity,  in  the  words  of  the  immortal  Burke, 
"  Let  us  attest  the  retiring  generations  ;  let  us  attest  the 
advancing  generations;  between  which,  as  a  link  in  the 
great  chain  of  eternal  order,  we  stand ! " 


OLD  POWDER  HOUSE,   ATTLEBOROUGH. 


